Executive Decisions
by assassinhayd
Summary: Ulrich wakes one day to find that the life he knew is no more. The Warriors never met as kids, and are now adults, all working at the new "Campbell Entertainment Group" (CEG). Will things ever be the same as they were before? (AU with my OC's Seth and Hayden, companion to my original story 'Secret Life'. Rated T just for safety. JxA, UxY, OxS OCxOC(x2)) More inside!
1. Chapter 1

*WARNING* This is a companion story to my original story, 'Secret Life'. This story will make no sense if you have not first read my other story. This is also AU, using my OC's Seth and Hayden. I started writing this and knew that I couldn't just confine it to its own chapter in my first story like I first thought. I got perhaps a little too creative with this idea, and so I'm making this into it's own story, I am calling (for now) 'Executive Decisions' Please read the rest of the intro description to find out more.

BTW, Thanks to all of you who helped pushed my original story 'Secret Life' over 600 views this past couple of days, Woo-hoo! You guys rock!

Also, thanks for all of you who have also sent in original story ideas for me to use. Keep them coming! I received this one not too long ago, and I'm going to combine it with another idea from another reader because I think it fits so well. One reader (they didn't want to be named...) thought it would be cool if I did a "10 years later" with the characters of Code Lyoko, and my OC's Seth and Hayden. Another reader (they also didn't want to be named...come on guys!) thought it would be cool to see what would happen if the group had never met, (but Seth was still alive, and Aelita was never in the supercomputer which means we'll get to see Mrs. Campbell and maybe Mrs. Schaeffer!) and what would happen if they did meet eventually. So I'm going to combine these ideas and make them into a "10 years later, what never happened" story line. And I liked the idea so much that I'm turning it into it's own story.

Chapter 1: "Executive Decisions" (Following directly after events of Chapter 18 'Xandra' of the story 'Secret Life')

* * *

The group met together in the factory one chilly night in early November to discuss things after another long night of keeping the world safe. Hayden was tired of getting the runaround from Seth about his nightmares, and the technicality Jeremy let slip during the fight with Xandra. Seth had kept quiet about it for the last of October and up to this point, not telling Hayden a thing. Hayden had even tried worming the information out of the others in the group. However no one wanted to tell Hayden, they all figured that it was Seth's job to tell his twin the news. However, no one knew about Seth's nightmares, that had been one thing no one but Seth knew anything about. Hayden kept pushing though. But every time he asked, the group would fall silent. Yumi would look like she had just seen someone die, frozen like a statue. Ulrich would look around and whistle. Odd would make excuses to be somewhere else at that time. Jeremy would stammer and stutter, not really getting any words out, until Hayden lost patience with the nerd, and gave up trying to get anything out of him. Aelita would stay silent and refuse to tell Hayden anything. Finally, after about two weeks, he had had enough. He cornered Seth in the lab and demanded to know what was up.

"Here we go again!" shouted Odd, throwing his hands up in the air.

"Get comfortable guys, this might take a while!" yelled Ulrich, and they all took a seat near each other along the back wall.

"I don't know what you expect me to say! I'm not telling you until I feel I am ready!" shouted Seth, walking away from Hayden with his back turned.

"I expect you to tell me the truth! I'm your brother, and brothers don't hide this kind of thing from each other!" shouted Hayden at Seth's retreating back.

"Wake me when this is over..." yawned Odd, and he closed his eyes and leaned up against the wall. Everyone else agreed, Ulrich and Yumi stifled yawns, Aelita and Jeremy both tried to rub the sleep from their eyes. Everyone fell fast asleep, despite the shouts of Hayden and Seth in the background.

"Wake up sleepy-eyed!" said a voice near Ulrich ear.

"Mm? Is it over? Are they done arguing?" said Ulrich groggily.

"Who? Who's arguing?" asked the voice.

"Mm...? Hayden and Seth! Are they done arguing?" asked Ulrich, turning over in bed.

"Hayden and Seth? You mean the author Campbell's kids? No, they're not arguing..." said the voice.

"Then why did you wake me?" asked Ulrich, trying to go back to bed. Wait, that wasn't right, he was in- the factory- wasn't he?

"I woke you because you will be late for work if you don't GET UP! Work starts in an hour!" shouted his mother's voice loudly in his ear.

"Aah! Mom!" shouted Ulrich, launching up in his bed, "Mom! What are you doing here?"

"Honey, you live here!" said Ulrich's mom consolingly.

"What- I, I live here?" said Ulrich looking around, she was right, he was back home, sleeping in his own bed, and his mother was there, standing over him.

"Of course you live here! But you won't much longer if you don't get up and get to work to pay your part of the rent on your room. This house doesn't pay for itself!" chided Ulrich's mom, striding around, cleaning up his room.

"Really, Ulrich, you're 23 now, you think you would pick up your room more often than once a month!" said Ulrich's mom.

"_23_?" thought Ulrich, "But I just turned 13!" said Ulrich to his mother.

"13? Oh goodness me, I wish- that way I wouldn't have to worry about you so much as I used to when you were in school! As if you showing up to work on time was the only thing that I was worried about. If it's not the job, it's girl trouble! Who was the last one Ulrich? Claire I think was her name? And what did she say? That she didn't want anything to do with you because of those friends of yours? Honestly Ulrich, I never even got to meet her properly before she dumped you like the other ones!" ranted Ulrich's mom.

Ulrich got up and looked at himself in the mirror. He was older! He liked the way he looked, he looked good, trim, but not too buff. And apparently he had grown a bit of a goatee. Ulrich didn't mind the way it looked, it made him look older than 23 he thought. His mom continued ranting as he got ready for work.

"And that's another thing! If it's not girl trouble, it's all the time you spend out with those good for nothing friends you hang around. I still think that Herb is a bit too much of a goof for you to spend time with, and his friend Nicholas is nothing but a pervert!" said Ulrich's mom, raising her voice.

'_Nicholas and Herb? I'm friends with Nicholas and Herb? What happened to me_?' thought Ulrich, pulling open his closet to see mostly short sleeved white dress shirts, slacks, and solid colored ties. '_Where do I even work_?'

"Um, Mom...this may be a stupid question, but-" said Ulrich, over his shoulder.

"Ulrich dear, can't you see I'm talking to you?" scolded Ulrich's mom.

"Mom, I'm sorry, but I have a question." said Ulrich.

Ulrich's mom stopped cleaning and looked up at Ulrich, "What, Ulrich?" she said wearily.

"Where do I work?" he tried smiling to his mom to make it seem okay he couldn't remember.

Ulrich's mom sighed again, and put her head into her hand, "You ought to know, it's the only place you could get a job! The Campbell Entertainment Group!" said his mom, pointing out the window to a building Ulrich swore wasn't there before, "And it's not even a high up position! Just a mail clerk!" said Ulrich's mom, going off again.

"_Sheesh, I don't like this, what happened? Why am I friends with Herb?!"_ Ulrich shouted in his mind.

"Okay mom, I get it!" whined Ulrich, pulling off his pajamas and putting on a white shirt, tie, and a pair of the slacks. He grabbed a pair socks and slipped them over his feet, larger than before. Ulrich looked over the shoes that he had in his closet. Most of them were dress shoes, but then he spotted a pair of checkered converses. Ulrich grabbed them and left. Ulrich figured if his mom said he was just a mail room clerk, so no one would mind what he wore on his feet.

"Do you get it Ulrich? I don't think you do, or you wouldn't disappoint us like you have!" screeched Ulrich's mom as he left his room and looked around the house. To his surprise, was nice!

Ulrich always knew that his dad was doing good in business, but he never expected to live in a house this extravagant. Ulrich ran down the stairs, and almost bumped into his father coming up.

"Dad!" gasped Ulrich.

"Ulrich, son!" said Ulrich's dad cheerfully.

"Dad! Why are you so happy? You're usually the one on my case about things I do wrong, is everything okay?" said Ulrich as his dad marched up the stairs in his cheerful mood.

"Why would I be son? You didn't do anything wrong!" said Ulrich's father, leaning over the banister to talk to his son.

"Are you sure? I'm going to be late for work, and mom's yelling at me like it's going to be the end of the world!" said Ulrich to his dad. "Surely you're mad about that!"

"Mad? When I was your age, I was a mail room clerk too! And I showed up late for work all the time! Now, it's not something I want you to make a habit of. You just need to wait for your big break, like I did!" said Mr. Stern, lighting up with pride.

"But you're still not upset about my grades?" asked Ulrich.

"Grades? Son! You're out of college now! I would have liked it if you had paid a bit better attention in class however, since it did cost me a lot to put you through college! But now that you're off working, and following in your old man's footsteps, I couldn't be happier!" said Ulrich's dad, flashing a smile.

'Wow, Dad happy, and Mom yelling at me to do better, now I have to know what happened!' thought Ulrich.

Ulrich walked through the large house to find the kitchen. Ulrich came across it eventually, and sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal. He clicked on the TV they had, and flipped channels until he found the news. The reporter was going on about some new movie that had just opened, based on a book someone had wrote. The picture changed, and Ulrich was looking at a bunch of apparently famous celebrities as another reporter gave her story from the red carpet of the première that had happened last night. Ulrich didn't find the story very interesting anymore, and was about to turn off the TV when heard the reporter shout something.

"And here he comes! The author of this best-selling book, turned movie, Hayden Campbell!" shouted the reporter.

Ulrich almost spit his cereal out on the screen of the TV. Hayden Campbell? That name sounded familiar...

"Mr. Campbell! Mr. Campbell! A word for the SMH news?" clamored the reporter, trying to get Hayden's attention. Hayden strode over to the reporter and smiled for the flashing cameras.

"Certainly, and call me Hayden, please!" gushed Hayden, a little full of himself.

Hayden looked good, for an author, Ulrich figured. He wore a black tuxedo and a white bow tie. His dirty blonde hair was combed to one side and gelled to hold it in place. He shot the reporter a brilliant smile, and winked one of his liquid blue eyes.

"Mr. Campbell! I mean Hayden." said the reporter, and she blushed, "What can you tell me about your new movie? Is it anything like the book that you wrote?" asked the reporter.

"Honey, let me tell you something, with a director like my brother, if the book is anything like the movie, it will put my book to shame!" said Hayden, laughing with the reporter, "And here he is now, Seth! Get over here and say hello to your fans!" said Hayden to a man off-screen.

Seth strode over and smiled large for the flashing cameras. Seth was the spitting image of Hayden, except instead of a black tuxedo, he wore a bright red one, that almost blended into the red carpet. His bow tie was black, and so was the shirt he wore under it. His hair was gelled as well, but combed the other way than his brother's. Seth looked sharp, although Ulrich thought he was a little too flamboyant. His clothes were almost the exact polar opposite than those his twin brother wore, and he had a white rose tucked into his lapel, and Hayden had a red rose tucked into his.

"Seth Michaels! When your brother wrote his book, why did you want to be the one to be the one who directed it? And how were you able to beat out all the other directors who wanted to be the one who directed this best-selling book?" asked the reporter.

"I knew it from the very start, Hayde's book was going to be gold." said Seth, grinning at his brother. Ulrich raised an eyebrow, 'Hayde?'

"After it hit over 50 million sales, I knew I had to be the one to direct the movie that it was going to be based on. Of course, I knew I was the only one who could bring a certain- creative element- that the movie would need to be the best book to movie adaptation you've ever seen!" said Seth, flashing another smile for the cameras and audience. The crowd roared and whistled, and more camera bulbs went off.

Seth got serious now, "Of course, being the author's brother didn't hurt. But I said to him, 'Hayde, you make dead sure you want me to be the director of this movie. I may not be the best, but with a track record like mine, how can you refuse?'" Hayden and Seth laughed again. Ulrich frowned, he could clearly see that nepotism ran in the family.

"And I told him, 'With a track record like yours, how can I fail?'" Hayden looked at Seth and they both hugged. The audience and the reporters all awed, and there were more flashes and shouting.

"And with a track record like the both of yours, I expect this movie to be the best one I've seen yet! What will you two come up with next?" asked the reporter.

"Well, you see, we're going to take a break for a little while now." said Hayden, putting an arm around Seth's shoulder, "And come up with more ideas before we come back with them. I'm sure we're going to wow you!"

The reporter turned back around to face the camera and finish her reports. Ulrich went to turn off the TV, but he noticed something again! There was a girl not far behind the twins that Ulrich thought he recognized. Ulrich looked closer, and realized he was right! The girl looked like someone he had met in school before. What was her name? Yuri! No that wasn't right. Then it came back to him, Yumi! Yumi Ishiyama. Yumi was apparently the lead actress for the Campbell twin's big movie. She was wearing a trim, floor-length silver dress. She looked very beautiful. She stopped to do a quick interview, and then moved on. Ulrich turned off the TV after she left and sat there. He had a crush on Yumi in grade school. But she was a year older than Ulrich, and she hardly seemed to notice him. Ulrich sighed and stood up from the table. He bid farewell to his parents and then walked out of the house and into the driveway.

Ulrich saw a long sports car sitting in the driveway, and was about to get into it when his dad shouted at him from behind.

"Whoa there sport! You just can't be taking off with the old man's ride when you feel like it, how am I going to get to work?" he asked, ruffling Ulrich hair.

"Sorry- Dad. But how am I supposed to get to- work?" said Ulrich, he couldn't believe that he was actually saying these words.

Mr. Stern hopped into the sports car and backed down the driveway. On the way, he pointed to a beat-up green coupé in the driveway. Ulrich walked up to it and looked in the window. The small car made clown cars seem roomy. Ulrich reached into his pocket and found the keys for the small coupé and he opened it up. The door creaked as he opened it. Ulrich crammed himself into the front seat and looked around. The car was old, and needed work. The front seat came loose from one set of the rails it sat on when he leaned back, the radio only got AM radio stations, and most of them were in a language he didn't understand. The seats were torn in places, and stained with something that Ulrich didn't want to know. The back seat was tiny, if not microscopic. His knees hit the steering wheel, even with the seat fully extended.

Ulrich laughed, if his dad thought he was going to drive this thing, it was a joke. But he didn't have much of a choice, so he put the key in the ignition and turned it over. The old car chugged and coughed as Ulrich tried to start it. He goosed the throttle to get it going. The car started and Ulrich cheered. Then it died, making Ulrich pounded his head against the steering wheel. He looked up as his mom stood in a large window on the second floor and tapped his wrist to remind him what time it was. Ulrich looked at his watch and realized she was right, he had fifteen minutes to get to the office, and he lived thirty minutes away. Ulrich worked with the car, and finally got it working with ten minutes left to get to work.

'I'm going to be so late!' thought Ulrich as he pulled into the massive parking garage at Campbell Entertainment Group. He didn't find a parking spot until another ten minutes had past. Ulrich figured he was aboutthirty minutes late, and he still didn't know where to go. He punched the button on the elevator and hoped there was going to be someone who could help him. The elevator opened and there was already someone in there. Ulrich went to get in and ask the man, but he didn't look happy. Ulrich paused at the door, and asked.

"Is there something wrong?"

The man tapped his foot and shouted, "Ulrich Stern! You're late, again!" shouted the man.

"I'm sorry, who are you?" asked Ulrich.

"You're late and you have the nerve to ask me who I am?" the man seemed to stew in his anger for Ulrich, "You honestly say you don't know who I am? William Dunbar? Your boss?!" shouted William.

"Sorry, Will." Ulrich could tell he hit a nerve there, and amended it. "Sorry Mr. Dunbar, I promise this will be the last time." Ulrich recanted.

"You're lucky I don't fire you on the spot, but if I do so, there will be some awkward questions in the marketing department when your dad finds out I fired you. You're lucky you have friends in high places, Ulrich Stern!" said William, holding a finger under Ulrich's chin.

"My dad works here too? Just how big is this company?" thought Ulrich.

"What is with those shoes?" asked Mr. Dunbar, looking at Ulrich's converse shoes.

"My- shoes? What's wrong with them?" asked Ulrich looking at them.

"They're not to uniform, you need to have regular dress shoes, not those flashy- things." Ulrich apologized and looked down.

"Stop standing there with that look on your face and get in here!" said William, holding the door to the elevator open. Ulrich gasped and apologized again. He stepped into the elevator, and pushed a button for the second level, in the basement.

"_Great, not a lot of sunlight in that area to be sure..._" thought Ulrich, already dreading working in the mail room.

The elevator felt tense as Ulrich spent the long elevator ride down to the basement with William. William was tapping his foot and giving Ulrich dirty looks every so often. Ulrich tried talking to his boss, but every time he opened his mouth, William would hold up his hand and stop Ulrich before he even said anything. Ulrich decided to stay silent for the rest of the ride in the elevator. The elevator finally stopped, and the doors opened with a "ding!" William marched out as soon as the doors opened, and Ulrich followed. William marched to a large door with his name printed on it. Ulrich went to follow him, but William turned on him when he tried.

"What are you doing?" asked William, "Who's name is on this door?"

"Mr. Dunbar?" replied Ulrich.

"That's right- it says Mr. Dunbar, not Ulrich Stern, so DO NOT ENTER!" shouted Mr. Dunbar. He slammed the door in Ulrich's face and Ulrich felt a little anger rising in his chest.

"Ulrich! Ulrich! Over here!" came a nasally voice from behind him. Ulrich looked to see who was calling his name. A short man, with thick glasses and a bow tie poked his head out from around a corner.

"Standing up to the boss again? That's why you're the cool one in the mail room, Ulrich."

"Thanks, Herb." said Ulrich glumly, recognizing the nerd.

"Hey, Ulrich, can you make game night tonight? We're playing Dungeon Master Seven!" said the other occupant of the small room.

"No, I think mom- has something planned. Sorry Nicholas." lied Ulrich. He may have been friends with these guys before, but Ulrich figured it was time to find some new ones.

"Oh that's okay, my mom figured you'd probably say that anyway." said Nicholas, a frown forming on his face.

"What's on the schedule today Nick?" asked Herb, trying to lighten the mood.

"You know what it is! We deliver mail to everyone, and then they don't thank us, and then we do it again! And we get paid almost minimum wage for doing so!" said Nicholas. Herb frowned.

"I was hoping you would play along this time!" whined Herb.

"Oh get over Herb, we're never getting out of the mail room, stop trying to cheer me up." said Nicholas.

"Hey!" said a voice, getting all of their attention, "I don't pay you to stand around, telling each other your dreams! Get to work!" said Mr. Dunbar, shoving three metal, wire carts into the employees hands.

Herb and Nicholas muttered apologies, and got straight to work. Nicholas turned on the vacuum tubes for the mail system, and almost immediately, they started getting mail flowing through the tubes, and into slots in the wall. Herb sorted the mail, and Nicholas put it all in the carts where it needed to go. As soon as a cart was full, Nicholas pushed the cart into Ulrich's hands and shouted at him over the noise of the vacuum tubes.

"Marketing! Come back when you empty it, and we'll give you another!"

"Okay!" shouted Ulrich back, and he walked the cart to the elevator.

Ulrich didn't know where to go, there were too many floors listed on the elevator panel, and none of them were marked. Ulrich pushed the button for the lobby and figured he would take it from there. The lobby ought to have a directory, and from there, he could find the right floor for marketing. The elevator traveled up and the doors opened with the familiar "ding!". Ulrich pushed his cart out into the luxurious lobby. Ulrich gasped, the lobby was huge! Two large desks flanked the walls near the many revolving doors. Many people in business suits rushed in and out of the doors, and past the desks. A large fountain bubbled in the middle of the atrium, the centerpiece was a tall, dignified man cast in bronze. The plaque at its feet read: 'Our Founder- Winston Campbell.'

People rushed all around Ulrich as he stood there, admiring the grandeur of it all. Ulrich looked around for a directory board, but couldn't find it. Instead, there was another, smaller desk in the middle of all the hustle, listed 'Directory'.

Ulrich made his way to the desk and looked at the person sitting behind it. There was a boy sat behind the desk who looked the same age as Ulrich. The boy was doing something on the computer, and muttering to himself. He didn't notice when Ulrich walked up. Ulrich noticed a small bell on the counter of the black granite top of the desk, and gave it a sharp ring. The boy jolted away from what he was doing and quickly turned off the monitor.

"Y-yes? Can I direct to where to go?" asked the boy, straightening his glasses and looking up at Ulrich. The boy had neat, blonde hair, and his glasses might have been even thicker than Herb's.

"I need to find the marketing department, can you help me?" asked Ulrich. The boy straightened his glasses again and frowned.

"Aren't you Mr. Stern's son- Udolph- was it?" said the boy, scrunching up his brow.

"Ulrich, and yes, you're right, I am Mr. Stern's son, can you tell me where his department is?" remembering William saying something about where his dad worked.

"Uh, yes, marketing is on the fifteenth floor, just after sales, and just before legal." said the boy, handing Ulrich a map of the building. Ulrich thanked the boy and looked at the map. The boy returned to what he was doing earlier, when he thought Ulrich wasn't looking. Ulrich tried seeing around the edge of the monitor to see what he was doing.

"You're an animator!" said Ulrich suddenly, seeing how good some of the characters the boy had created looked.

The boy was startled again and shut off the monitor and stood up to talk to Ulrich, "Animator? What are you talking about? I'm no animator!"

"But I saw what you were doing! You're pretty good! Why are you down here when you should be up in animation, generating computer images for any one of the cartoon shows that Campbell Entertainment Group creates?" asked Ulrich.

"Look, I- I- don't want any trouble." stammered the boy. Ulrich raised an eyebrow and looked at the boy.

"Okay, my name is Jeremy Belpois." said Jeremy, sticking out his hand. Ulrich shook it and the man let go.

"Can I trust you Ulrich?" asked Jeremy. Ulrich nodded and leaned in to listen to Jeremy over all the noise in the lobby.

"Look, I first applied to work in the animation department, I even applied to work in the video games department. But they said I worked too hard, and that my uptight attitude would really bring down the laid back attitude of the rest of the animators." said Jeremy.

"Laid back?" asked Ulrich.

"Yeah, the animation teams on the big time shows like to take their time in animating new episodes, usually pushing out one a week. I can do it in under two days, if I don't rest that is..." said Jeremy, trailing off.

"Don't rest? How long would it take you if you did rest every night?" questioned Ulrich.

"About three and a half, and that's still faster than some of the animators in those departments," said Jeremy, bragging lightly.

"I'll say!" said Ulrich, thoroughly impressed with Jeremy's abilities.

"I took this job, because I thought I could get noticed if the right person walked by." said Jeremy, a little glumly.

"Well, you're not going to get noticed if you sit down here, and never let anyone see your work!" said Ulrich, he stepped around the desk, next to Jeremy and looked at his work. It was almost flawless.

"Yeah, well I wasn't hoping for just anyone, I was hoping to catch the eye of- get down!" said Jeremy suddenly, pulling Ulrich down below the desk.

"What? What's going on Jeremy, why are we hiding?" Ulrich peeked over the desk and looked. He didn't see anything special.

Then he saw what Jeremy was talking about. A woman, about the same age as Jeremy and Ulrich, had just stepped out of the elevator and was striding across the lobby at a fast pace. Everything seemed special about this girl, her hair was a bright shade of pink, and her outfit reflected that. She wore a pink business suit and skirt, and her blouse was a darker shade of pink. The only thing that was not pink on her was her briefcase, which she swung back and forth with great energy as she marched through the atrium.

"Jeremy? Who's that?" he whispered at the frightened boy.

"That's Miss Aelita Schaeffer, the head of the animation department. She's very important around here...her father and Winston Campbell, and a few others started this business from the ground up basically. Her father, Franz Schaeffer, helped make the animated division of Campbell Entertainment what it is today. She's a regular chip off the old block, following in her father's footsteps to become one of the most successful businesswomen at this company!" hissed Jeremy loudly so Ulrich could hear him.

"Then why are we hiding under this desk? You should be talking to her about your work!" Ulrich went to stand up to get Miss. Schaeffer's attention, but Jeremy pulled him back down, almost causing him to bust his chin on the desk as he fell.

"No! I can't! She wouldn't be interested in it, and- I just- can't!" said Jeremy, blushing.

"You like her!" realized Ulrich.

"No! No! I- Yes, I'm smitten with her!" said Jeremy, blushing even harder.

"I knew it! You're too embarrassed to talk to her because you like her!" said Ulrich, triumphantly.

"Okay, no need to broadcast it to the world!" hissed Jeremy, and he looked back over the desk with Ulrich. Miss. Schaeffer passed by the desk, and Jeremy pulled Ulrich back down under the desk. Aelita stopped at the desk and rang the bell. Ulrich elbowed Jeremy to stand up, but he shook his head, and pointed to Ulrich. Ulrich didn't know what to do, so he stood up. Aelita was tapping her foot as Ulrich stood up. She cleared her throat and said.

"I don't think I need much of an introduction, but I am Aelita Schaeffer, head of the animation department. I need some info about another employee in this building before a meeting later today." said Aelita in a stern, professional voice.

"Uh- okay, who do you need to find?" asked Ulrich hesitantly.

He went to sit at the chair behind the desk, and type on the keyboard, but Jeremy put his hands on it from under the desk and winked at Ulrich. Ulrich realized what he was doing. Ulrich wished the rest of Jeremy would come up from under the desk, but the nervous boy seemed fine with only being the hands in this situation. Ulrich lowered his hands below the edge of the tall desk to make it look like he was typing and turned to Miss Schaeffer.

"Who is it you need to find?" said Ulrich after he made sure that Jeremy was ready and could hear.

"There was someone who applied to this company a couple of months ago to my department, I need their name because I learned recently that they are still here at the company, and I wish to speak to this person." said Aelita, "They're name is- Jason Bellding?" thought Aelita

"You mean Jeremy Belpois?" inquired Ulrich, trying to decipher the gibberish that Aelita gave him.

"Yes! That's the person! What a nice name don't you think? I'm surprised I even forgot it!" said Aelita, "I was told he worked here! Do you know where I can find him at this time?" she asked.

"Um- Jeremy is-" Ulrich looked down at Jeremy. Jeremy shook his head furiously, begging Ulrich not to give him away.

"Jeremy just stepped away for a minute, he um- had to use the restroom!" said Ulrich, "I'm watching the directory desk while he is gone."

Jeremy slapped his head with his hand and Aelita gave Ulrich a look. She walked off, and exited the building through one of the many revolving doors. Jeremy stood up once she was gone, and sighed. Ulrich punched him on the shoulder.

"She's looking for you dude!" said Ulrich. Jeremy winced and rubbed his arm.

"Yes, she's looking for me, but why?" asked Jeremy nervously.

"She said something about her department, a meeting, and needing you." said Ulrich, recalling what Miss Schaeffer said.

"That can't be good." said Jeremy glumly.

Ulrich frowned and started forming a plan in his mind about how to get the bashful nerd to catch Miss Schaeffer's eye. Ulrich bid farewell to Jeremy and rolled the mail cart back to the elevator. Ulrich pulled out the map of the building and read it on the way up to the fifteenth floor. If he was going to be any good at this job, he had to know where things were. The doors to the elevator slid open and Ulrich pushed the cart out into the bustling office. Then Ulrich realized he had another problem. He didn't know any of the people who were listed on the packages and letters.

Thankfully, the people in the marketing department were nicer than some of the people he had already met today, and were able to point him to where he needed to go. Also, some of the smaller cubicles had name plates, and the larger offices also had the names of their occupants listed on the door. Ulrich got to the bottom of the cart and saw a stack of letters with the name 'Stern'. Ulrich smiled and went to find his dad's office. Ulrich found it and knocked on the door and his dad looked up from his computer and he smiled.

"Ulrich! What a pleasant surprise!" he said, standing up to hug his son.

"Dad! I'm working..." whined Ulrich.

"Oh, that's right, my big professional son, doing his job!" said Mr. Stern proudly, playfully punching Ulrich.

"Dad!" whined Ulrich again.

"Oh, sorry son." said Mr. Stern with a smile, "Hey! Whatcha got there for your old man?" said Mr. Stern, noticing the stack of letters Ulrich held in his hand.

"Mail for you- Mr. Stern." said Ulrich, trying to keep some dignity.

"Oh please, Ulrich, you can call me dad!" said Mr. Stern, taking the stack of letters and opening the first one. A couple of the younger workers in the cubicles outside the office heard him, and snickered. Mr. Stern shot them a look and the workers got right back to work.

"Oh, what's this? That blonde haired freak thinks he can do my job again?" said Mr. Stern, looking at the first letter.

"What's wrong dad?" asked Ulrich.

"Nothing son, you get back to work, I need to have a word with a certain member of the development department." said Mr. Stern, waving his hand at his son. Mr. Stern picked up his phone and dialed a number. A second later, Mr. Stern was in a shouting match with another person.

"That's dad!" thought Ulrich. He could hear his dad as he walked down the hallway back to the elevator.

"Oh yeah?! Your name isn't the only thing ODD about you, you freak!" shouted Mr. Stern, "You get back to your job, and let me worry about mine!" Ulrich could hear his dad until the doors to the elevator slid shut, and Ulrich descended into the depths of the building again. Ulrich walked back to the mail room, and Herb was already there, looking a little nervous.

"Where have you been? We have five carts ready to go, and people need their mail!" shouted Herb over the noise.

"Sorry, got a little lost!" shouted Ulrich back. Herb rolled his eyes and pushed another cart into Ulrich's hands.

"Development!" shouted Herb.

Ulrich nodded, and walked back to the elevator. He pulled out his map and saw that development was on the seventeenth floor. Ulrich pressed the number seventeen on the elevator panel, and he started the long journey from the basement. Ulrich stepped out of the elevator, and right into a scene from a cartoon. All sorts of characters, big and small, decorated the walls, cubicles, and offices of the floor. Cardboard cut-outs, plush toys, and all sorts of versions of characters that Ulrich had seen before on television, and some that he had never seen before were all over. The whole office seemed to be full of energy and life. Some people were laughing, and others were standing around in large groups around someone's computer, looking at a funny video. Ulrich couldn't stop himself from smiling.

"Hey! We going to get our mail sometime today mail boy?" asked a voice from behind Ulrich.

"Um- sorry!" said Ulrich, turning around to see who talked to him.

Ulrich didn't see anything. He saw a tall mess of hair that led down to someone shorter than him. There was a short boy, about the same age as Ulrich, Jeremy, and Aelita. His hair was blonde, and slicked up to a point using a lot of gel, his spiked hair had an interesting streak of purple through it near his forehead. It almost didn't seem normal for someone to have this kind of hair, and still be dressed professionally. He then thought of Miss Schaeffer, and realized that it wasn't too crazy. The boy had a white shirt, slightly untucked in the front, a pair of tight, purple jeans, and a purple tie that was loosely tied around his neck. Maybe he wasn't so professional as Ulrich thought.

"Hey, I'm just messin' with ya' mail boy!" said the boy, slapping Ulrich on the arm and laughing, "Name's Della Robbia, Odd Della Robbia, I'm head of the development department here!" said Odd with a smile.

"Nice to meet you! Hey, you wouldn't happen to know Mr. Stern from marketing would you?" asked Ulrich, remembering what his dad had said about someone with blonde hair in the development department.

"Oh, that old windbag?" said Odd, his smile faded, "Always walking all over my creative ideas for the shows we develop!" said Odd.

"Well, let me tell you something, that 'old windbag', is my dad," Odd looked shocked.

"I'm so sorry um- Mr. Stern's- um- son, I had-" Odd gulped and looked around. "I had- no idea!"

Ulrich laughed and Odd frowned, "Hey! What's so funny?!"

"Man! I'm just messin' with ya'!" Ulrich laughed. "Man, you should have seen the look on your face!" Ulrich laughed more.

"Hey man, that's good, maybe you should come work in development, you've certainly got the attitude for it!" said Odd.

"Nah!" said Ulrich. "I'm not as creative as you'd think."

"What are you talking about? You got the shoes for it!" said Odd, pointing to Ulrich's converse shoes.

"Yeah, but it's not what I'm supposed to wear to work in the mail room." said Ulrich glumly.

"Man! That's why you gotta come work for me! We can wear whatever we want here in development, I make the rules after all!" said Odd, pointing out his clothes, and that of the other workers around him. Odd was right, some of the developers wore all sorts of crazy clothes.

"I just choose to look this way because I gotta be a little professional!" said Odd.

"Well you pull the little part off nicely." Ulrich remarked, "Now if you don't mind I have a job to do."

"Go right ahead Mr. Stern's son!" said Odd, giving Ulrich a salute.

"It's just Ulrich," said Ulrich.

"Roger, Just Ulrich!" said Odd, he jerked his salute and marched off with a military march.

Ulrich laughed and got right down to work. This floor wasn't hard because most of the employees were gathered around in a central area. Ulrich was done and returned to the mail room. The rest of the day seemed to fly by. Ulrich visited almost all the floors, and so far, he decided that legal was the most boring floor and group of people he had met. Sales was kind of interesting, but nothing could beat his trip to the development floor. Ulrich ran into Miss Schaeffer again, as she zoomed into the elevator Ulrich had just gotten out of. Ulrich tried to talk to her, but she was on the phone with another person, and was unable to talk. Ulrich sighed, and got back to work, delivering mail to the people in her department.

When he got back to the mail room, Nicholas was still there, sorting mail, and taking bites out of a burrito between letters. He told Ulrich that the mail had slowed for a moment, and that he and Herb could go to lunch and that he would take over from here. Ulrich gave a fist pump, and Herb went to get a high- five from Ulrich. Ulrich didn't know what to do, but he gave the nerd a high-five anyway so he didn't seem rude. Mr. Dunbar walked out of his office and yelled at Nicholas to not slack off while they were gone, and then the three of them went to lunch. The elevator was quiet again as Herb and Ulrich didn't know what to say as Mr. Dunbar stood there, tapping his foot impatiently. They took the elevator up to the first floor, past the lobby, and the doors slid open. Ulrich's jaw dropped, he had never seen a cafeteria this big before. He stepped out and looked around. William and Herb acted like it was nothing new, and went to get lunch from the many places around the cafeteria.

Ulrich looked around, there was a station for all sorts of food imaginable. Barbeque, a deli, international foods, all sorts of food! There was even an entire station for just pizza. Ulrich grabbed a tray and went where his nose led him. He finally found a station that served delicious looking burgers.

"What can I get you son?" asked the person taking orders.

"Um- I'll have-" Ulrich looked up at the board and saw all the options he could have on the burger. Ulrich decided to keep it simple.

"I'll have just a burger, done, with lettuce, tomato, pickle, and a medium fry." said Ulrich.

The person behind the counter nodded, and he called out to the person running the grill. The cook nodded and got started right away. Ulrich stood there leaning against the counter for a minute and looked around the cafeteria, and out into the dining area. The dining area looked awesome. There were all sorts of elevated booths and single tables for people to sit at, and the area opened up to a large, curved glass window that let in the sunlight, looking down to the street below. Ulrich's food was done and he thanked the person, and went to grab a juice from the cooler near the wall. He went up to the cashier who, and Ulrich paid for his food, using his own money. Ulrich liked this new him. Ulrich walked out into the expansive dining area, and looked around. He saw Herb sitting with Mr. Dunbar. Mr. Dunbar was sulking as usual, and Herb was trying to avoid his gaze. Ulrich looked around and he heard a couple people call out his name.

He looked and saw two people call out his name from different directions. Odd Della Robbia was at a large booth, sitting with two other people from the development department. There was also Jeremy, sitting alone at a table not far from where Odd was sitting. Ulrich couldn't choose, so he sat at a different booth by himself, and called Odd and Jeremy over to him. Odd excused himself from his group, and made his way over to Ulrich, and Jeremy packed up his lunch he had brought from home and sat next to Ulrich as well.

"So, who's your friend Ulrich?" asked Odd as he sat down with a mountain of food.

"My name is Jeremy Belpois, I work at the directory desk." said Jeremy, holding out a hand for Odd to shake.

Odd took it and shook his hand, "Della Robbia, development." said Odd simply.

"How do you know Ulrich, Jeremy?" asked Odd as he dove back into the pile of food he had on his tray.

"We met this morning actually." said Jeremy, pulling out a salad, and eating it.

"Funny, we met this morning too!" said Odd, shoveling food into his mouth.

"So how's working at the directory desk Jeremy?" asked Odd.

"Not bad, wasn't my first choice, but it's okay I guess." said Jeremy, "How's working in development?"

Ulrich zoned out the small talk. He wasn't one to beat around the bush like that. Ulrich ate some of his fries and looked around as Odd and Jeremy talked. He saw Aelita walk into the cafeteria. She ordered a salad and went to pay for it. She looked around the large dining area, and saw Ulrich, Odd, and Jeremy. She smiled slightly for the first time that Ulrich had seen, and walked in their direction. Ulrich figured this was his chance to get her to notice Jeremy, and he elbowed him. Jeremy looked up and saw Miss Schaeffer walking in their direction. She stopped to answer her phone and looked away for a second. In that time, Jeremy gulped and quickly packed his lunch back up and hid behind a large open planter. Ulrich had been keeping an eye on Miss Schaeffer, and so had Odd, so they did not notice when Jeremy disappeared. Aelita hung up her cell phone and looked back towards their table. She didn't see Jeremy anymore. She frowned and walked the other way to sit by herself at a table.

Jeremy peeked back out, and returned to the table once Miss Schaeffer had picked an open table far away from them, with her back turned. Ulrich frowned, and Odd raised an eyebrow.

"What's up with you running off like that?" asked Odd, "It's obvious she wanted to speak to you!" said Odd.

"He has a bit of a crush on her." said Ulrich when Jeremy wouldn't answer for himself.

"A crush? On Aelita Schaeffer? Boy are your sights set high!" said Odd, and Jeremy blushed. "What makes you think she likes you?"

"I don't, I'm just crazy about her!" said Jeremy bashfully.

"A successful businesswoman falling for the directory desk boy, that would be a first," said Odd.

"He doesn't want to be the directory desk boy forever however, he wants to be an animator!" said Ulrich. Jeremy looked embarrassed.

"An animator? What makes you think you can be an animator?" asked Odd, raising an eyebrow.

"He's really good! I've seen his work!" said Ulrich, prodding Jeremy with his elbow. Jeremy slowly nodded, and then pulled out a laptop from his bag and opened it. Jeremy typed a few things into the laptop, then turned it around for Odd and Ulrich to see. Jeremy had a whole short movie playing.

"You did this all by yourself?" asked Odd, looking at the screen. Jeremy nodded and Odd smiled.

"Boy are you something else! This is amazing, to heck with animation, you need to come work for me in development!" said Odd, reaching around the table to slap Jeremy on the back.

"I think Jeremy would be better suited in animation, don't you think?" asked Ulrich, noticing Jeremy's hurt look on his face when Odd talked about him being in development.

"Oh, right, but- you gotta show this to Miss Schaeffer! This stuff is amazing, and is just what she's been looking for!" said Odd, and he turned around to get Aelita's attention again.

Aelita looked finally when she heard Odd calling out to her. She looked and Jeremy ducked behind his laptop, hiding himself from view. Aelita looked at Odd, and Odd pointed at Jeremy, who was hiding. Aelita didn't see anything, so she rolled her eyes, and returned to eating her salad. Odd turned around and saw Jeremy hiding. Odd opened his mouth to talk, looking at Aelita, then back to the bashful nerd, then back to Aelita. Odd still didn't know what to say so he closed his mouth and went back to eating.

"You're never going to get her attention if you keep hiding like that every time she looks your way!" said Ulrich, putting an arm on Jeremy's shoulder.

"I know, but she's just so beautiful, I- I- just can't!" said Jeremy, looking at Aelita.

"Just start small! You're both eating salads, go over there and ask her about her salad!" said Ulrich, prodding the nerd.

"I- I- don't know Ulrich..." said Jeremy, retreating away from the group psychologically.

"Just do it smarty pants! Hmm...that doesn't sound right, you mind if I call you...Einstein?" asked Odd. Jeremy just nodded, not wholly there.

"Okay! I'm going to do it!" said Jeremy suddenly.

"Way to go Einstein!" shouted Odd, and Jeremy went to stand up. He got up right next to Aelita and was about to tap on her shoulder to talk to her, when he bolted back to Odd and Ulrich!

"Well, how'd it go?" joked Odd, noticing the look on Jeremy's face.

"Terrible! I can't even get close to her without feeling like I'm going to vomit!" said Jeremy. He looked shaken.

"That's no way to impress a girl, you're hopeless Einstein!" said Odd, throwing his arms up in the air.

"I know, now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work, alone..." said Jeremy glumly, packing up his lunch and leaving.

"Poor Einstein, he's going to die unmarried and alone." said Odd.

"Hey, that's no way to talk about Ein- I mean, Jeremy!" said Ulrich, punching Odd. Odd laughed and Ulrich scowled.

"I have a plan that might just work..." said Ulrich, smirking.

"Okay, you do that. Are you going to finish your fries?" asked Odd, uninterested in what Ulrich had to say.

"Knock yourself out..." said Ulrich, sliding the last of his food over to Odd.

Ulrich returned to the mail room with William and Herb, and they got right back down to work. Nicholas said something about taking a break and going up to the top-level to deliver the mail to all the important bigwigs in the corporate offices. Herb heard him and stopped him.

"You know you can't do that! Remember, what Mr. Dunbar said he would do if he caught you going up there again. Your record can't handle another pointless sexual harassment charge on it, or you'll get fired!" said Herb. Nicholas sighed and admitted defeat and went back to sorting mail.

"Most girls don't react well when you ask them if they want to go for a 'breathtaking experience under the moonlight' Nick, so stop using that line!" said Herb, loading up the mail cart.

"Send Ulrich then, he's a real hit with some of the people up there!" said Nicholas, giving Ulrich a wink.

Ulrich didn't know what he meant by that. Herb pushed two carts up to Ulrich. He explained one was the letters for the executive offices, and the other was specifically for the Campbell family: Hayden, Seth, and their father. Ulrich nodded and he took the mail carts and got in the elevator and pushed the button for the top floor. The elevator ride was long, there were almost forty-five other floors between the second basement level, and the top floor. The doors slid open, and Ulrich walked out into a very spacious office area. There was a receptionist sitting by a large window that opened up to all of Paris. Ulrich even joked in his mind that he could see his house from here, which he figured he could, considering they were so high up. The receptionist looked up and nodded at Ulrich when she noticed his mail carts. Ulrich gave a curt nod back, and she buzzed Ulrich into the main office area.

Ulrich pulled open one of the large, frosted doors and looked in. The office was huge! It looked like just a normal office area, with cubicles and offices, but it was almost two times larger than some of the other offices. The cubicles sat down in a heavily furnished area that was slightly receded into the floor. The thick, red carpet felt very soft under his feet, and Ulrich felt he could have just laid down right there and taken a nap on the soft floor. Each office on the side were two times larger than his dad's, and all had finely crafted desks. The occupants of these offices looked professional, and most didn't answer him when he entered to deliver their mail. Ulrich laughed at some of the titles these people carried, like CEO of Developing Developments, or President of Network Internal Affairs.

Suddenly, Ulrich heard a loud voice and a man strode out of his office shouting at a team of assistants that followed behind him. Ulrich recognized the man as Winston Campbell, the founder of Campbell Entertainment Group. The man called out orders to his assistants who all responded, and ran off to carry out his tasks. Ulrich noticed he recognized one of the assistants. Her name was Claire Girard. He went to say 'Hi' to her, but she stopped short.

"Ulrich Stern! What are you doing here?" she demanded.

"Um- I work here?" said Ulrich hesitantly.

"I told you after we broke up I didn't want to see your face or your stupid goatee again!" she shouted.

"I'm- sorry?" asked Ulrich.

"Sorry! You have the nerve to stick up for you perverted friend and all you can say is 'Sorry'?!"

Everything that Nicholas said made sense now. Ulrich wasn't a big hit because he was well liked, he was a big hit because apparently he had dated almost every other girl in this department. Claire stormed off, and he saw a couple other people he knew. Emily DeLuc, and Heidi Klinger. Both of them were also assistants to Mr. Campbell, and they turned up their noses as they walked past Ulrich. Apparently he had dated them as well. Ulrich sighed and went on to deliver the rest of the mail.

Ulrich hadn't even reached the bottom of the first cart, and most of the names on the letters and parcels were names he had heard before. There were a couple stacks for Hayden Campbell, and a few for Seth as well. Most of them all looked like fan mail and letters from fan girls. There was also another large stack of official looking letters for Mr. Campbell himself. And another, smaller stack for another Campbell Ulrich didn't recognize. Ulrich asked a couple of people where he could find the Campbell family and they pointed him down another hallway to a receptionist who sat outside a large meeting room. Ulrich walked up to the receptionist and asked to speak to Mr. Campbell. The receptionist laughed and asked.

"Which one?" she joked, and she laughed at Ulrich's confused look.

"Um- all of them?" he said, unsure about what to say.

"It's okay dearie, it's a family joke!" she said.

"So you are-?" asked Ulrich

"Mrs. Campbell! Nice to meet you dear! What's your name?" she said, sticking out a hand. Mrs. Campbell was a nice and gave Ulrich a very warm reception. Ulrich didn't know what to say.

"U-Ulrich Stern, ma'am..." stuttered Ulrich.

"Well nice to meet you U-Ulrich Stern." joked Mrs. Campbell, "I believe I know your father who is head of our marketing department is he not?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am that's right, Mr. Stern is my father." Ulrich said, gaining a little confidence.

"Well he is a valuable asset to this company, to say the least. And I am glad to see that we got his son to work here too! May I extend a personal thank you for the work you do. Even the mail clerks are important here! My husband and I dare say quite possibly my sons wouldn't know what was going on in the world if it wasn't for people like you doing your jobs!" said Mrs. Campbell, and she smiled again.

"Um- thanks Mrs. Campbell..." Ulrich didn't know what to say to this nice woman.

"Oh no thanks is needed for my thanks, just take it and appreciate it!" she said kindly, "Let me see if I can interrupt the meeting long enough for you to go in and do your thing..." she said pushing an intercom button.

"Oh wait! I forgot! I needed to bring in the snacks for the meeting, Mr. Campbell and the others get kind of cranky after a while without snacks in there. Can you do that? I have things I need to do out here, and so I can't do it." said Mrs. Campbell, looking up at Ulrich, and then pointing to a tray of snacks on the corner of the desk.

"Um- I'd love to but you see my boss-" said Ulrich.

"Oh, Mr. Dunbar, he's not giving you problems is he?" asked Mrs. Campbell, "I'll call down to him and tell him you'll be a little late getting back. He won't mind I'm sure. The executive offices are always the last to receive their mail everyday, so I expect you won't have much work to do after you get back..." she said and she picked up the phone.

She buzzed Ulrich into the meeting room and Ulrich grabbed the tray of snacks and tried to balance them at the same time as he pushed the mail carts into the meeting room. Ulrich grabbed the stack of letters for Mrs. Campbell out of his cart and left them on her desk. She mouthed the words 'thanks again!' and then she started talking to Mr. Dunbar over the phone.

The meeting had already started and everyone looked up as Ulrich walked in. Ulrich pushed the mail carts into the corner, and then set the large tray of snacks in the middle of the table. Ulrich could see the many heads of departments sitting around the table, including Miss Schaeffer, and Odd, and his Dad. His dad and Odd both waved to him, then Odd and Mr. Stern glared at each other as they noticed they were both waving at Ulrich.

"Thank you mail boy, now finish your job and get out." said the head of the legal department a little forcefully. Ulrich didn't really like him. He was an even bigger nerd than Herb and Jeremy combined.

"Now, that's not necessary Mr. Pichon." said Mr. Campbell himself. Now Ulrich knew why Herb had gotten a job here as well, and why the man acted like a total geek.

"Now, before we get down to business, I believe the mail is here! Is there anyone here who hasn't gotten mail?" asked Mr. Campbell. Mr. Campbell raised his hand and winked at Ulrich. Two other hands on the right to Mr. Campbell also raised. Ulrich looked and saw Hayden and Seth Campbell. They both were a spitting image of the other, and they looked like their mother. Seth wore a red tie and a pair of black jeans that were okay enough to be considered 'professional' and Hayden wore almost the same thing, except he wore a black tie. Ulrich was sure he wouldn't have been able to tell them apart if they didn't dress slightly different.

"Well? Our mail please?" asked Mr. Campbell, he was polite about asking, but was still firm with Ulrich. Ulrich gasped and got the mail carts from the corner. He handed Mr. Campbell his stack of official looking letters. Mr. Campbell thanked Ulrich, and then got started with the meeting. Ulrich wheeled the other cart around to Hayden and Seth. Ulrich introduced himself to the twins, and Hayden quietly introduced himself to Ulrich, as did Seth.

"I know who you are! I saw you guys on the news this morning!" hissed Ulrich as the meeting continued on.

"Guilty as charged!" said the twins in unison, "So this is our mail?" asked Hayden, looking at the overflowing cart of letters, envelopes, and parcels.

"I'm afraid so," said Ulrich.

"Hey, here's an idea, Hayden," said Seth.

"Yeah Seth?" asked Hayden

"Let's have Ulrich here help us go through it, some of them are always good for laugh, and with the two of us, it would take all day to go through it!" said Seth.

"I don't know guys, this is your mail!" said Ulrich, hesitantly.

"Nonsense! The last time I got a letter that was actually for 'Seth Campbell' was three years ago, and it was a medical bill for someone who swore I broke his nose with a trophy at some stupid award show. Nowadays, I get letters for "Seth, the handsome director I saw on TV"

"Did you?!" asked Ulrich, trying to get Seth to talk about the nose thing some more.

"No, he just wanted to get a cut of the action, saying that Seth bashed his nose in. He only waved it around when he thought no one was behind him, and it barely clipped the guy. He turned it into some big scandal. I actually think you know this guy! Mr. Dunbar?" asked Hayden, raising an eyebrow to Ulrich.

"You hit William Dunbar?!" asked Ulrich.

"Only slightly! I made his nose bleed, and the guy says I cost him a fortune in medical bills and reconstructive surgery." said Seth, "Load of baloney, we took him to court and won, and now he no longer works in the executive offices, I believe he's your boss is he not?" asked Seth.

"Yeah, no wonder he looks so mad all the time, this company is one big mockery to him!" said Ulrich, "Why doesn't he just quit?"

"Because unlike you, who could have started anywhere in this company, and climbed your way to the top, Mr. Dunbar was a disgrace after the trial, and couldn't find anyone to hire him. Our dad was nice enough to at least give him something, but there's no way he's coming out of the mail room anytime soon. If he gives you any problems, tell him Seth Campbell says 'Hi!'" said Hayden with a chuckle. Ulrich laughed a little, then looked back at the mail carts with their mail in it.

"You guys seriously want me to help you go through your mail with you?" asked Ulrich.

"Yeah! We don't mind! It's usually just a bunch of fan letters, wanting to send us ideas, or fan girls, expressing their undying love for us, nothing too personal!" said Seth, putting an arm on Ulrich's shoulder to reassure him.

"But I have to-" started Ulrich.

"Have to what- get back to work? Run back to William Dunbar and take orders from him?" asked Hayden incredulously. "We heard our mom, she said she would tell him you'd be a while! Take a load off, these meetings usually last all day!" said Hayden, pointing to an empty table and three chairs in the corner of the room.

"We usually look through our mail to keep from being bored to tears during these meetings." said Seth, pulling faces. Ulrich laughed.

"But aren't you a part of the company?" asked Ulrich, "Shouldn't you be paying attention?"

"Nah, dad gives us free reign of our departments, as long as my department and I keep out cranking novels-" said Hayden.

"And the studio keeps cranking out movies-" continued Seth.

"He could care less," finished the twins at the same time.

"Um- well, if you say you don't mind... then let's get to it!" said Ulrich, quietly.

"Awesome!" said the twins at the same time. Seth grabbed the cart and wheeled it over into the corner where the separate table was.

"Okay, let's explain how this goes. We open a letter and read it." said Hayden, demonstrating.

"Next we decide what kind of letter it is, if it's a script..." said Seth, taking the large stack of paper that came out of the large envelope.

"We throw it away..." he said, and he threw it into the trash with no further discussion, "Same with hate mail, but that's for different reasons..."

"We don't deal with those crazy people who think that we are in charge of what's shown on TV, or on the movies, that's Odd Della Robbia's job from development, or Melissa from admissions." said Hayden, noticing the look on Ulrich's face. Ulrich asked Hayden who Melissa was so Hayden waved to Melissa at the table, and she discreetly waved back.

"If people knew that we weren't in charge of that kind of thing, then Odd and Melissa would get bogged down, and unable to do their own jobs, we relieve the pressure, by not dealing with the pressure!" whispered Seth.

"Okay, but what if a script is really good?" asked Ulrich.

"Then Odd would be out of a job." said Hayden, "It's Odd's job, and the people he works with, to come up with the ideas that get turned into our cartoons and TV shows for our networks." said Hayden.

"We can't have just everyone have their own TV show, and most of them are kind of crappy..." admitted Seth.

"Okay, so what happens next?" asked Ulrich.

"If it's a love letter from a fan girl." said Seth, holding up a sheet of pink, frilly paper that smelled oddly of perfume, "We give them to our secretaries who type up responses 'from Hayden and Seth' themselves." Hayden rolled his eyes and took the letter and started a pile of love letters.

"But don't the girls get suspicious?" asked Ulrich.

"Nah, we have our secretaries type up each letter for each girl so she feels like she's getting a letter right from us." said Hayden.

"If we took the time to write back every girl our self, we would be here long after this meeting ended." said Seth.

"Okay, that makes sense." said Ulrich, "What's next?"

"If someone mails us a résumé or an application to work here, we send it to Dan in HR." said Hayden, holding up a résumé someone had sent him.

"We don't have the power to hire around here, but our dad has given us limited power to fire people in our own departments." said Seth, explaining it to Ulrich.

"Okay, anything else?" asked Ulrich.

"Look, just open a letter and read it, you might laugh a little, we do sometimes when we read the letters. Once you have read it, just summarize what kind of letter it is, and if it doesn't meet the classification of: script, love letter, or application, or hate mail, then ask us what it is, trust me, we've seen it all! We can tell you what it is." said Hayden.

"Okay!" Ulrich felt a little better about helping Hayden and Seth now.

He grabbed the first envelope and ripped it open. It was obviously a love letter, the writing was in a girl's hand, and smelled faintly of another kind of perfume. Ulrich read a few lines and then put it down. The kind of things that the girl wrote about doing to Hayden made him blush a little. Ulrich kept going through the pile of letters. After half an hour of going through the pile, Ulrich felt as if he had seen it all too. He had stacks upon stacks of love letters.

"We're dashing guys!" whispered Seth after Ulrich opened his twentieth love letter.

And several stacks of hate filled letters.

"People who say we stole their ideas for original stories or movies." said Hayden, looking at the tenth hate mail of the day.

Ulrich listened to the meeting in the background as he sifted through the letters with Hayden and Seth. Ulrich was surprised to find that it was actually interesting to listen to the meeting. Odd was giving a report, on his department. He finished and another person from Odd's department stood up and starting going over new ideas for shows for Mr. Campbell to approve.

"Here's the premise," said the fast-talking developer. The guy looked like he should be selling vacuums, not pitching ideas to a multimillionaire network owner. His hair was long, and slicked back into a ponytail. His shirt was untucked, and his pants were wrinkly. Ulrich figured that's what you get when you have someone like Odd running the department.

"We have five adults- only one is trapped in a supercomputer that's hidden in someone's basement, a boy is the one who's trapped, and he has a mysterious past. The other four adults, three girls and another boy, have to go into the supercomputer to try and free him." said the developer quickly.

"And they all have kids, and they leave their kids to lead a secret life and save the day from a hacker who wants to delete the boy so he can't come to the real life and causes major problems by hacking into other computer systems to cause problems all over the world." the developer finished rather quickly.

"Well, what do you think Mr. Campbell?" asked the developer.

"What do I think? Mr. Stern, what do you think?" asked Mr. Campbell suddenly.

"I'm sorry, what?" replied both Ulrich and his father.

"Sorry, just Ulrich, Mr. Stern." said Mr. Campbell with a smile.

"Yes Mr. Campbell?" replied Ulrich, looking up from the pile of letters.

"What do you think of this idea?" asked Mr. Campbell, folding his fingers in front of his mouth and staring intently at the developer.

"What do I think?" asked Ulrich, a little taken aback.

"Yes, as a common employee of this company, and I'm guessing someone who watched his number of cartoons when you were younger, I want to know your honest opinion of this show idea." said Mr. Campbell, still staring at the developer.

Ulrich felt a little embarrassed, he had never been asked by a multimillionaire what he thought of anything. The developer shot Ulrich an evil look, and Hayden and Seth both gave Ulrich a look of worry. Mr Stern and Odd both gave Ulrich a smile, and a thumbs up.

"Don't...worry..." mouthed Mr. Stern and he gave Ulrich another thumbs up.

"Good...luck..." mouthed Odd, and he crossed his fingers.

"Um- well, I don't really like the idea to be honest." said Ulrich. The room fell silent.

"I don't think we really need to hear this do we?" shot the developer and he sat back down in his chair with a huff.

"No, no I asked Ulrich what he thought, and I respect his opinion." said Mr. Campbell, raising a hand to quiet the angry developer, "Ulrich, what would you change about this idea?"

"What would I change!?" asked Ulrich, he really didn't know what Mr. Campbell was getting at.

"Yes, you said that you didn't the idea, what would you change to make it an idea you do like." said Mr. Campbell, folding his hands back in front of his mouth.

"Um- well, I don't like the idea that adults would leave their families to save another person, no matter how genuine their intentions were, maybe they could be kids, like in school." said Ulrich.

"Yes, go on..." said Mr. Campbell, nodding.

"And instead of hiding the computer in someone's house where it could be discovered by anyone, have it hidden in an old abandoned factory near where the kids go to school." said Ulrich.

"Anything else?" asked Mr. Campbell. The developer looked furious that Ulrich was twisting his idea.

"Yes..." said Ulrich, gaining a little confidence, "The hacker idea is not very believable, make it a powerful multi-agent virus that has power to control anything in the real world when he controls certain areas in the virtual world hidden inside the supercomputer." said Ulrich.

"And make change around the girl and boy ratio, making it two girls and three boys, and one of the girls is stuck in the supercomputer on the virtual world. One of the boys stumbles upon the factory one night, and turns on the computer, and finds the girl trapped. He wants to free her from the supercomputer, but doesn't know how. In activating the computer, the boy accidentally activates the virus as well, unleashing him on the world, but they can't just shut down the computer again because the first boy feels attached to the girl who's trapped." said Ulrich, everyone was riveted to what Ulrich was saying.

"The first boy recruits three other friends, the two boys and the other girl, to go to the virtual world and fight the virus from causing mayhem in the real world." finished Ulrich.

Everyone was stunned after Ulrich finished. The developer looked like he could shoot daggers out of his eyes. Odd was impressed, as was Miss Schaeffer. Mr. Stern looked shocked that his son had just had a chance to speak in a staff meeting, and little worried about what Mr. Campbell would say. Hayden and Seth were both nodding their heads as they thought about what Ulrich had just said, they liked the idea, but they were worried as well to see what their father would say. Everyone else was silent, unsure about what to say. Mr. Campbell sat there, stroking his chin, with his eyes closed. He leaned back in his chair and thought some more. Mr. Campbell suddenly spoke up.

"I like it," said Mr. Campbell. The developer's jaw hit the floor, as did everyone else's. "I like that idea better."

"But- he's not a developer! He just can't come up with an idea like that and have it approved!" shouted the developer, leaning over the table to point directly at Ulrich.

"I think we can fix that, don't you think Mr. Della Robbia?" asked Mr. Campbell, turning to Odd.

"What? Oh- yeah, um- excuse me sir?" said Odd, unsure about what Mr. Campbell was getting at.

"I believe there is an open position in your department is there not? A Vice-President of Development right?" said Mr. Campbell.

"Sir?" asked Odd.

"I believe that the position is now filled don't you agree?" asked Mr. Campbell, winking at Ulrich. "Mr. Stern, welcome to the development team."

* * *

Okay! That's chapter one of my new story! For all the readers of my first story, tell me what you think about this one! I always like to know what my readers think of my stories. For those of you who have not read my other story, but have gone ahead and read this one anyway, I encourage you to read it to make this companion story make sense. I will be working on this story back and forth along with my story 'Secret Life', so for those of you who like reading that story, don't worry, I will be writing more for it every other day I can.


	2. What You're Really Made Out Of

Hey, hey lovely people! Welcome back to another chapter of my story! What did you guys think of the first chapter? Again, I would like to remind those who read this that this is a 'companion' story, and goes hand in hand with my other story 'Secret Life' so if you have not read that story, I highly suggest you go read it so that this story makes sense. I'm not claiming that you HAVE to read my other story, I just think it would be a good idea. However, this story is far enough apart (story line wise) from my other story that it would not affect it much if you haven't read it, but in order for all the "inside jokes and sarcasm" from my other story, that I use here, it would probably do you good to read it, if you haven't already.

Chapter 2: "What You're Really Made Out Of"

* * *

"Mr. Stern, welcome to the development team," said Mr. Campbell, smiling at Ulrich.

"What?!" shouted the developer. His sentiment was echoed by most of the people sitting at the table. Ulrich was in shock. He couldn't believe what he just heard. His father looked the same way he did, just as shocked. His jaw hung open, and all that came out was a small squeak. Odd looked confused and he scratched his head. Miss Schaeffer was the only one who looked like she got what was going on, and she agreed with Mr. Campbell. She nodded her head in agreement, then smiled at Ulrich.

"I believe that Mr. Stern has earned a spot in the development department. He came up with a show idea, and I liked it. That's how I believe you started out, isn't it, Mr. Finson?" said Mr. Campbell to the developer, Finson. Finson looked furious. Ulrich was sure that if he was any madder, he could have snapped the table in half.

"Mr. Stern, would you like to say anything?" asked Mr. Campbell, standing behind the table to look around at everyone. Everyone's looks shot back to Mr. Campbell. Odd was still confused about what was going on, Mr. Stern was still in shock, and Miss Schaeffer sat with her hands folded neatly on the table, a wide smile on her face. Everyone else either didn't know what was going on, or were too much in shock to speak up and contradict Mr. Campbell.

Ulrich was just speechless. He wasn't expecting anything like this to happen when Mr. Campbell had him give the billionaire his two cents. All he did was come up with a show idea based on what he liked, and now he was being promoted...big time! Ulrich didn't really feel like he was worthy, or even suited for the job being offered. Seth prodded him in the ribs and Ulrich shot him a look. Hayden gave Ulrich a thumbs up, and Ulrich stood. Ulrich was about to accept, but then he blurted out, "But, Mr. Campbell! I'm not qualified for that job! I'm just a mailroom clerk! I have no experience developing ideas for TV shows!"

Hayden and Seth's faces fell. That was not the response they were expecting. Aelita's face fell as well, as she was disappointed that Ulrich would pass up such an opportunity like this. Mr. Stern snapped out of his stupor, and started trying to cut Ulrich off as he spoke. Odd was still clueless.

"Yes, you are just a mailroom clerk, but if I remember, that's how your father started out, isn't it?" said Mr. Campbell, sitting in his chair, and rotating to face Ulrich. Ulrich was just tired of other people being right and stating the obvious. Ulrich scratched the back of his head in nervousness.

"But, Mr. Campbell…sir? Doesn't a job like this need years of experience?" he asked.

"Not necessarily. I believe that our own Mr. Della Robbia joined our company not two years ago, and since then, has climbed to become the head of the development department, even though he has not come up with so many ideas for shows himself. Isn't that right, Mr. Della Robbia?"

"Um—yes, sir!" Odd thought he knew what was going on now, but he didn't know how to respond after Mr. Campbell's last comment. He didn't know whether he should be proud, or offended.

"Well, how do you know I would be right for this position? I barely come up with an idea—five minutes ago! And now you're offering me a management job in development?!" Ulrich shot back. He wasn't about to accept this job without first hearing why the old man was so adamant on giving him it in the first place.

Mr. Campbell sighed and stood up from the table. He told everyone to carry on without him. He crossed over the room, and walked around the round table to where Ulrich stood. "Son, when I started this company, I made sure that those who showed potential were put where they'd be able to show that potential the best." said Mr. Campbell, putting his hand on Ulrich's shoulder. "Mr. Schaeffer was the best animator I had ever seen, and his daughter is as well! She is a terrific animator, and a superb businesswoman. I never have to worry about things going on in her department," said Mr. Campbell, looking over his shoulder at Aelita. Aelita smiled and waved at Ulrich.

"Mr. Della Robbia might be a bit of a lazy goof, but he was able to bring his department together in a way I didn't think was possible. Two years ago, the development department kept turning out lemon after lemon, and practically none of the shows that did go through stayed for very long on the air. But after I put Odd in charge, there's rarely been a show idea that came out of that department that I didn't like. With today being the exception..." said Mr. Campbell, offhandedly. Ulrich opened his mouth to stop Mr. Campbell, but he held up a hand stop Ulrich instead, and carried on.

"And your father? Your father was just a mail boy when he started at this company, and perhaps the oldest mail boy I've ever seen!" he said, laughing. Ulrich looked over Mr. Campbell's shoulder at his father. He was busy talking to someone from sales, but when Ulrich looked over, he stopped talking, and smiled at his son, giving him a thumbs up.

"But when his boss at the time came to me to complain that your father had gotten in a shouting match with a member of the marketing department over what would be the best approach for a new marketing campaign, he wanted me to fire him. I told him 'no' and instead gave him the management position instead! You should have seen the face of the mailroom supervisor! He resigned on the spot, and that's when we got Mr. Dunbar, I believe, isn't it?" he said.

Hayden and Seth both looked at each other and grinned, stifling a couple of snickers so their father wouldn't hear.

"And my own sons!" said Mr. Campbell. Hayden and Seth shot up to attention and listened intently. "They might take after Mr. Della Robbia from time to time..." said Mr. Campbell with a stern look. Both Hayden and Seth shrunk under their father's stern gaze. "But I couldn't be more proud of their accomplishments!" he said proudly. Hayden and Seth both beamed at their father, and Mr. Campbell turned around to face Ulrich again.

"That's why I think you'd be perfect, son!" said Mr. Campbell, putting his hand back on Ulrich's shoulder. "I was about to throw out that idea because I thought it was garbage! But you turned it around into something I like—heck! I love the idea that you came up with!" He flashed a large grin at Ulrich. "Besides, Odd could use a cool head in there to keep him level from time to time. He can get a bit crazy at times, and he could use someone like you to keep him in line." Mr. Campbell winked at Ulrich. "Now, will you take the job or not?" he teased.

"Well—I don't know what to say!" said Ulrich, taken aback by the older gentleman's offer.

"I believe a 'yes' would be acceptable..." said Hayden, nudging Ulrich a little.

"Um—yeah! Sure, I guess. I would love to take the job!" said Ulrich, smiling.

"Excellent! Let's go tell everyone the good news!" said Mr. Campbell as he wrapped an arm around Ulrich's shoulder, piloting him over to the group seated at the table.

"Everyone! Ulrich Stern has agreed to be our new Vice President of Development!" he voiced. He took one of Ulrich's hands and hoisted it above his head, like he had just won a boxing match. "I would like your support in welcoming him to the team! I believe he will be an excellent addition to the team!"

Everyone looked up from their conversations, and the room fell quiet. Ulrich was afraid that no one agreed with Mr. Campbell's sudden decision. He prepared for the worst, but then the meeting room broke out in cheers. Odd stood up from the table and shouted and whooped in celebration. Mr. Stern stood up and clapped loudly and he looked like he was about to cry. Aelita stood and politely clapped. She smiled at Ulrich again, and Ulrich blushed. Eventually, everyone was standing and clapping and cheering. Hayden and Seth stood behind their father, cheering Ulrich on. The only person who wasn't cheering was Finson. He sat in his chair, arms folded and brow furrowed.

"Well, since I believe the majority is in agreement, I would like to formally congratulate Mr. Ulrich Stern on his new position, and hope that he does well in this new calling!" said Mr. Campbell, jostling Ulrich a bit as he pulled him closer. "And I believe that is all the business that needs to be conducted today at this meeting! Meeting adjourned!"

Many of the employees in the conference room packed up and left straight away, still in high spirits about Mr. Campbell's announcement. A few people hung around to congratulate Ulrich. Odd was first in line. He walked up to Ulrich, and stuck out his hand for a handshake. Ulrich stuck his hand out, and Odd slammed his hand into Ulrich's, pumping it up and down vigorously.

"I knew you'd be perfect for development! I just knew it! Congratulations, good buddy!" said Odd cheerfully.

Ulrich wrenched his hand out of Odd's death grip. "Good buddy?" asked Ulrich, massaging his hand, "We just met today!"

"I know, but we'll be spending a lot of time together now, so I figure we'll be the best of friends in no time!" he said happily. Ulrich wasn't so sure, but he smiled at the blonde's enthusiasm. Odd patted Ulrich on the back, and then left the conference room, promising to see Ulrich 'bright and early' the next morning.

Mr. Stern walked up next, and he looked like he was about to burst into tears. Ulrich smiled, and his dad hugged him. "I knew you could do it, son! I'm so proud of you!" said Mr. Stern, holding back sobs.

"Dad! You can let go now!" Ulrich wheezed. It almost felt like he was going to snap his spine in two.

"Oh, sorry, son! Just wait till your mom hears this!" he said. "She'll be so happy!"

Ulrich smiled. Mr. Campbell also said that he could take the rest of the day off if he wanted to tell his wife the good news. Mr. Stern tried to politely refuse, but Mr. Campbell insisted, and so Mr. Stern thanked him, and ran out of the conference room to go home.

To Ulrich's surprise, Aelita was next in line. Miss Schaeffer raised a hand for Ulrich to shake, and Ulrich took it. She then spoke to Ulrich in a very professional tone. "Congratulations are in order I believe, Mr. Stern." she said, "I knew when I saw you sitting at that directory desk this morning, you seemed…out of place..." she said, grasping for the right words.

"Um—thanks? I think..." mumbled Ulrich.

"Oh, I didn't mean to make you mad! I only wished to congratulate and to ask you about another person..." said Aelita.

"Excuse me?" He was confused about that last part.

"I wished to ask you about your friend, Jeremy Belpois." she said.

"Excuse me?!" replied Ulrich. He certainly wasn't expecting anything like this.

"I only wish to talk to him about—" She paused halfway. "You know what, if you see him, tell him I need to talk to him, and that if he wants, I'm free this Friday..." she finished with a wink.

"Ma'am?!" said Ulrich. He still couldn't believe what she was saying.

"If you see Jeremy Belpois again sometime soon, tell him that Aelita Schaeffer wants to talk to him, and that if he wants, I'm free on Friday night..." she repeated.

"I heard you the first time, ma'am, I just— Do you like Jeremy Belpois?" asked Ulrich.

"I- uh-" she stammered, beginning to blush. "I, um- perhaps, I might just enjoy- looking- I mean—" Aelita cleared her throat and Ulrich grinned. "I shouldn't have put myself out there like that! I apologize, Mr. Stern, for being so forward with you on the behalf of another. Please let me know what Jeremy says, and I await his answer," said Aelita. Her face was still as red as a cherry tomato. She gathered up her things, and went to leave.

"Should I still ask him about Friday?" he asked, his grin spreading into a smile.

"Um…yes! I mean no! I mean—ugh!" said Aelita in a huff, leaving the conference room.

"That has to be the first time I've seen Aelita Schaeffer blush like that!" said Hayden in awe. Ulrich laughed and the last person in line stepped forward. It was the developer from earlier, Finson.

Finson was red in the face, and he had a very large scowl written on his features. Ulrich was sure you could have fried an egg on his greasy forehead. The developer obviously had a score to settle with Ulrich. Hayden saw him storm up in a huff and he quickly pulled Ulrich aside before the developer was able to say anything. Hayden whispered something to Ulrich as Mr. Finson stewed, and then Ulrich stepped back to deal with the angry developer. Mr. Finson inhaled deeply, and was about to let Ulrich have it, when Ulrich said simply, "Finson…you're fired!"

Mr. Finson stopped suddenly and looked like he had been stung, "What?! You can't fire me!" he fumed, feeling very sure about himself.

"Oh, yeah? I just became Vice President of Development, which means I'm your boss now! So I say, you're fired!"

Seth smiled at his brother. Seth had no idea his brother could be as evil as that. Hayden stood there with a smug look on his face.

Mr. Finson gasped and sputtered, then looked at Mr. Campbell. "Winston…!" he said, exasperated.

Mr. Campbell scowled. He didn't like being called Winston, especially by those he thought were trying to play up to him to keep their jobs.

Mr. Finson flinched, and then recanted. "Mr. Campbell! This can't be happening! This kid barely became Vice President, and already he thinks he has the nerve to fire me?!" he whined.

"Yes, Mr. Finson. I was the one who told Hayden to tell Ulrich here to do that. It was my decision, but I needed Ulrich to make the call. He's in charge of that kind of thing now." Mr. Campbell said with a stony face.

The color drained out of Mr. Finson's face, and then he gasped and sputtered some more. Hayden and Seth both stood next to Ulrich, and Mr. Campbell stood behind them all, slightly hidden behind his taller sons and Ulrich. Hayden and Seth both looked like they were about to punch Mr. Finson, and Mr. Finson cowered. Ulrich suddenly felt bad for him. He called Hayden, Seth, and Mr. Campbell around in a huddle, and he whispered to them for a second. At first, the group whispered quietly and politely, then Seth and Hayden, and even Mr. Campbell all shook their heads and said 'no'. Ulrich talked to them for another couple of moments, then he got an idea, and he ran it past the other three. Mr. Campbell nodded, and Hayden and Seth grinned wickedly. Ulrich turned back around and then spoke to Mr. Finson as professionally as he could.

"I don't appreciate what you were trying to do just now, kissing up to Mr. Campbell, and thinking you could keep your job. They said I should fire you on the spot, and be done with you." said Ulrich, pointing to the three men behind him with his thumb. "But I don't think that's very fair. You were going to start a fight with me, and I am your new boss, but I don't think that is grounds for termination."

Mr. Finson looked like he was going to pass out. He thought he was actually going to keep his job. But Ulrich wasn't finished. "If I keep you in the development department, especially after if I were to show you kindness and let you stay, I am afraid you would walk all over me like I was nothing. I can't have that in my department." Ulrich began to feel weird saying those words. "That's why we've decided—" said Ulrich, pointing to the three men and himself again, "—that since there is an empty spot in the mailroom as of today, that you would be perfect for that position." He didn't want to sound mean, but he didn't want to fire the man outright for trying to start a fight either.

Mr. Finson looked shocked and angry again. This was not what he was expecting, and he voiced this openly. "WHAT?! You're demoting me to the mailroom?!" shouted Mr. Finson, "After all I've done for this company?!"

"If memory serves, you did little for this company, and you were just hired six months ago." said Mr. Campbell, from the back of the group. Hayden and Seth moved apart so their father could step forward. "And we only hired you because you came highly recommended from your father."

Ulrich thought he recognized the name. Mr. Finson was the son of the Mr. Finson, the famous movie director, who did all those second-rate horror and alien movies with second-rate acting, and second-rate special effects.

"What? Daddy can't come up with his own ideas nowadays, so he sent you to steal some from us?" said Seth in a mocking tone.

"Seth, watch yourself...!" warned Mr. Campbell, and Seth bowed his head, muttering apologies to his father.

"I believe that Mr. Stern was more than reasonable in his offer, Mr. Finson. You still have a job, but with no large sum salary to go along with it. In fact, Ulrich, tell him your job description." said Mr. Campbell.

"Um—" Ulrich still wasn't sure what his job was, he had just woken up today, feeling like a brand new person. Then, he remembered what Nicholas said about the job they did.

"Well, um—we deliver mail to everyone, and then they don't thank us, and then we do it again! And we get paid almost minimum wage for doing so!" said Ulrich.

"Did you have any special perks to the job? Health Care, anything?" asked Mr. Campbell, he sounded a little meaner now. Ulrich was afraid to see what Mr. Campbell looked like when he was really angry.

"Um—not that I was aware of…" Ulrich muttered.

"Right, so these are the options on the table, Mr. Finson. Either take this job, or be fired right here on the spot." Mr. Campbell's temper was rising even more.

Mr. Finson was sweating bullets at this time. He bit his lip and wiped his brow and then let out a sigh. Then he spoke up, his voice shaky and full of acid, "I would like to say I like working here, I would, but then I would be lying," said Mr. Finson. "You can't fire me! I QUIT!" He stormed out of the conference room, leaving most of his belongings behind.

Mr. Campbell shook his head in disappointment, then went back to the head of the table and pushed a small button on an intercom.

"Security..." said a masculine voice on the other end.

"Yes, Mr. Finson of development was fired, but he just quit, and I am afraid he might not go too quietly. I would like to request an escort for him as he packs and leaves the building." said Mr. Campbell.

Ulrich frowned. He didn't expect this, especially after he tried being nice to the angry man. If everyone he tried to help like this refused his offers, Ulrich was sure that he would soon make a lot of enemies. So Ulrich hoped he never had to fire someone like this again. Hayden and Seth both put a hand on his shoulders and Ulrich turned to look at them. Ulrich tried forcing a smile, but Hayden and Seth could tell that what happened had shaken him.

Mr. Campbell finished arranging Mr. Finson's escort from the building, and then walked back to his sons and Ulrich. "Well, not what I would have wanted you to experience your first day as the new Vice President here, son," he sighed. Ulrich nodded and tried to cheer himself up. "Go home, son," said Mr. Campbell consolingly. Ulrich nodded and shook Mr. Campbell's hand.

"I'll inform Mr. Dunbar and your co-workers personally about your new position, and start finding your replacement immediately." Ulrich nodded and turned to leave.

Mr. Campbell stopped him before he got to the door. "Son, let me tell you, some days, everything may go the way you want, and everything might turn out right." Ulrich didn't know where he was going with this, but he listened to the man anyway. "And some days, nothing may go right, and it may feel like you don't have a friend in the world anymore, but what you have to do, is remember those days where everything went right, and work to get back to those moments. If you try, it will come," he finished.

Ulrich didn't know how he felt about this advice. It almost made Ulrich more depressed. He thanked the man anyway, and gathered up his things, the empty mail carts, and left the conference room. Mrs. Campbell was still sitting at her desk when Ulrich walked out. She stood when he walked by and she congratulated him on his promotion. Ulrich thanked her, but didn't stay long to chat. Ulrich still couldn't get his mind off the angry developer. Ulrich thought he was doing the right thing, and thought he was more than generous to let him still have a job. He felt depressed and tired at the end of it all.

Ulrich got back in the elevator and traveled the many floors down to the second basement level. Apparently, word had traveled fast about his promotion, and each floor he descended, more and more people got on as the workday ended. People asked him if he was Ulrich Stern, and after he answered them that he was, each person would congratulate him and shake his hand. After the tenth person who had gotten in the elevator that congratulated him, Ulrich was tired of people recognizing him. The elevator reached the lobby, and everyone got out. Ulrich spotted Jeremy across the lobby, packing up to go home. He quickly pushed his carts out of the elevator, and rushed to talk to Jeremy.

Ulrich pulled up just as Jeremy was pulling on his sweater, and bending down to grab his bags. He rang the bell, and Jeremy shot up. When he saw Ulrich, he smiled.

"Congratulations, Mr. Stern. I heard about your new job from Odd already... He came down here to tell me, and to look something up," said Jeremy when he noticed Ulrich's look.

"Yeah, um…thanks Jeremy," said Ulrich.

"What's up? You seem depressed. So you not want to be Vice President of Development?" he asked, bending down to pick up his bags once more.

"What? No, that's not it. It's just that I've already had to fire someone today."

"Wow, that's rough," Jeremy said. He walked around the desk and stood in front of Ulrich.

"Tell me about it! I've never had to do something like that, and I don't think I made the right decision," he said, rubbing the back of his head.

"What do you mean?" Jeremy set down his bags so he could talk to Ulrich.

"I mean, I couldn't stand to just let the guy go! I felt bad for firing him just because he wanted to start a fight with me, so I thought since I was promoted, he could have my old job, and everything would be fine."

"You thought someone who used to bring in a huge salary, would suddenly want to go to the mailroom, and earn peanuts compared to what he used to make? And be humiliated for it as well?" asked Jeremy. Ulrich had to admit that he had a point. "Do you mind if I give you a bit of advice that I think fits this situation?"

"Yeah, sure. It can't be too bad can it?" asked Ulrich, remembering the advice Mr. Campbell gave him.

"Um—I hope not..." said Jeremy. "When I was about 17, I made my dad breakfast for Father's Day, because I wanted to do something special. I wasn't very good at cooking, but I tried anyhow, and I thought I did a good job. I took the breakfast to my father in bed, and he looked at me a little disappointed." said Jeremy.

"What? Did you do something wrong?" asked Ulrich.

"Let me finish!" he whined. "I had accidentally scrambled his eggs, instead of poaching them, and he didn't like scrambled eggs. But he ate them anyway to be nice, but when he went to take the first bite, my father flinched, and the eggs slipped off the fork, and landed on his chin, and burned him, and he also got eggs all over his pajamas as well." said Jeremy.

"Well this is all well and good, Jeremy, but I just fired someone. I didn't feed him breakfast!"

"Give me a minute!" he scolded Ulrich. "My dad got angry at me, blaming me for his burns, and his stained pajamas. I was crushed. I was just trying to do something nice, and I ended up getting blamed for it in turn. I asked him to let me explain logically why I shouldn't be blamed. My father agreed, as long as I could explain why he shouldn't be mad with good reasons. I told my father that it was not my fault he got burned, but his own. My father insisted that it was my fault. I explained to my father that I tried being nice by making him breakfast, but I had not met his expectations. My father agreed, and still he insisted it was my fault. I then explained that it was his fault he flinched, which caused the eggs to slip and burn him. My father also agreed to that. I then told him that he was being irrational and emotional in blaming me for trying to be nice. My father realized I was right and apologized."

"Okay, I still don't know where this is going!" shouted Ulrich. The night janitor had come in and started cleaning the lobby. When Ulrich shouted, the janitor looked up, and looked a bit worried. Ulrich and Jeremy calmed the janitor, and he shrugged and got back to work. Jeremy then turned back to Ulrich. Ulrich had folded his arms, and was losing patience with the blonde nerd.

"What I'm trying to say is you're like me in this story, and the Mr. Finson is my father," explained Jeremy. "You changed what Mr. Finson thought was the perfect idea, and gave him something else, something he didn't want, like the scrambled eggs I gave my father. Then, when he got angry because you ruined his 'perfect idea', he thought that if he complained, he would still get what he wanted. Instead, you insisted on giving him a different option in the mailroom. This was not acceptable to him, because that still meant that you took his idea and you didn't receive any punishment for it. That's when he got mad and 'spilled', so to speak, and then he went to face you about it. If you had taken the time to explain your reasoning, maybe he would have listened to you, but there just some people you can't reason with."

Ulrich was in a daze. He shook his head. "How does that explain my problem?" he asked.

"What I'm saying is that this whole thing isn't your fault! You chose to help Mr. Finson, but he was the one who turned you down! You extended the hand of fellowship. It was up to Mr. Finson to either accept it or to reject it. And he was so blinded by rage that he chose to reject," he said, putting a hand on Ulrich's shoulder.

He smiled at the nerd. "You couldn't have just told me that instead of boring me with the huge explanation?" asked Ulrich, teasingly.

"If I did that, then you wouldn't have learned your lesson!" said Jeremy. He gave Ulrich a playful punch on the arm, then picked up his bags again and walked towards the elevators.

Jeremy bid Ulrich goodbye as he entered the elevator, and Ulrich returned the farewell. The doors to the elevator closed, and Jeremy rose a couple of levels to reach the bridge that connected the building to the parking garage. Ulrich got in one of the other elevators, and returned to the mailroom. Herb and Nicholas were still there, sorting the last of the mail for the day. Mr. Dunbar opened the door to his office, and pulled on his suit jacket, and pulled out his car keys. He looked up and saw Ulrich walking down the hall and he froze up. William gave Ulrich a stony glare as he walked past. He muttered congratulations, but Ulrich could tell that he didn't mean it. William was as cold and unforgiving as this morning, but now he had just been passed up for a promotion by one of his own mailroom employees. Ulrich could tell he was not in a good mood, but he was just trying to be polite.

Ulrich pushed the two carts into the mailroom, and bid Nicholas and Herb good night. Herb and Nicholas both wished Ulrich a nice night, and told him they would see him tomorrow. Ulrich didn't know how to respond, so he didn't. He didn't want to hurt their feelings. William stood in the doorway to the mailroom. Ulrich looked at William, just standing there, a dumb look on his face. He was still halfway through putting on his suit jacket, so his left arm was stuck halfway down his sleeve. His car keys were still in his other hand. Ulrich knew that look. He had seen it before, when he and William were growing up. The look William had on his face…Ulrich had only seen it when he had actually beat William at something.

Ulrich suddenly felt kind of sorry for William, but then he remembered what he was like in grade school, how William would always try and be better than him. As he remembered all the bad memories of William, the sympathy left, and was instead replaced with slight anger. William nudged Ulrich with his shoulder as he walked out of the mailroom, and Ulrich was about to retaliate by raising his fist. William flinched and cowered, but then Ulrich realized that Herb and Nicholas were watching, both of them had their mouths open in surprise. Ulrich lowered his fist, and William straightened himself out and cleared his throat. William had a look of victory on his face. It was something Ulrich had seen before. Ulrich felt rage welling up in his chest, and then he remembered something that Hayden said. William strode past Ulrich, and punched the button for the elevator. William pulled the rest of his suit jacket on, and then his overcoat. He then pulled a pair of leather gloves out of his briefcase. Ulrich spoke up as the elevator doors opened and William stepped in.

"Oh, William?" Ulrich asked politely.

"Hmm? Yes, Stern?" replied William. He turned around to face Ulrich, and he still had the look of victory on his face.

Ulrich grinned. "Seth Campbell says 'hi'." Ulrich stood there with a grin on his face.

The color drained out of William's face and he felt up his face until he found his nose. Ulrich laughed, and William's face twisted into anger. He went to punch Ulrich, but the elevator doors slid shut on him. William crushed his gloves in his hand, and pounded on the doors. Ulrich could hear him scream obscenities as the elevator ascended, and then the shouting faded from earshot. Ulrich gave another laugh, and then turned to face Herb and Nicholas. Herb and Nicholas stood dumbfounded. Ulrich waved goodbye to them, and Herb and Nicholas waved back, not really knowing what they were doing. Ulrich gave one last laugh, and got into the other elevator.

Ulrich rode the elevator up to the bridge that connected buildings, and then opened the door out to the parking garage. A black car whipped past Ulrich, and the tires squealed as the car made the tight turn out of the garage. Ulrich figured he knew who was behind the wheel of that car. Ulrich brushed dirt off his pants, and then searched the garage for his car. Ulrich got behind the wheel of his small, green coupé and turned over the engine.

He pulled out of the garage, making his way home through the streets of Paris as the sun finally set. Ulrich's phone rang a couple blocks from his house. Ulrich pulled over under a street light and answered it. It was Odd.

"Hey, man! A couple of friends and I got together at a bar on 5th Avenue to celebrate your promotion. You care to join us to make this officially a celebration?" slurred Odd.

Ulrich could hear loud music, and someone whooped in the background. Ulrich shook his head. "No thanks, man, I'm almost home, and I think I'll just go to bed," said Ulrich, massaging his temples, and scrunching his brow.

"Ah! Party pooper! Well you enjoy your beauty sleep, and I'll see you in the morning, good buddy!" said Odd. Ulrich was about to remind him to do the same. He couldn't let Odd come into the office the next day, incapacitated, but Odd hung up the phone on him.

Ulrich drove the last few miles to his house, and pulled up in the driveway, right as his car sputtered to a dead stop. Ulrich sighed and got out of his car. The cool, November air nipped at Ulrich's nose as he walked up to the door and put his key in the lock. Ulrich pushed the door open, and entered the spacious house. The lights were off, and Ulrich felt around for a light switch.

"Mom? Dad? I'm home!" he said groggily, kicking off his shoes. Then found the light switch. Ulrich flipped it, and several people jumped out from the shadows and all shouted at him.

"SURPRISE!" shouted the guests, and Ulrich was definitely surprised. He saw Odd, Aelita, Jeremy, and a couple other people he didn't recognize, but he knew they had to all worked at CEG as well. Ulrich even saw his parents in the mix as well. He was greeted by many shouts, slaps on the back, and several hand shakes and 'congrats'. Odd walked up to Ulrich, and Ulrich scowled.

"You said you were at the bar!"

"I know, but what you didn't know is that our friend Einstein here is a master of voice manipulation as well as a genius! He created an application for phones that changes where it sounds like you are!" said Odd, and he pulled Jeremy forward and wrapped an arm around him. Odd jostled the blonde nerd, and Jeremy smiled, straightening his crooked glasses.

"It's nothing really..." said Jeremy a little bashfully.

"Nothing?! You made it sound like I was in a bar! Ooh...! Watch this!" said Odd, he let go of Jeremy, and pulled out his cell phone. Odd dialed a number, and Ulrich's phone rang. Ulrich scowled, but he picked up the phone anyway.

"Hello?"

"Hey...Ulrich!" Odd's end of the conversation was full of static and noise.

"You're...breaking...up!" said Odd, but on Ulrich's end, the words came out broken, and almost unintelligible, like the signal really was breaking up.

Ulrich laughed, he had to admit that this was pretty cool. Odd hung up his phone and chuckled. He grabbed the blonde nerd again, and gave him a playful rub on the head. Jeremy extracted himself from under Odd's arm, and went to join the rest of the party. Ulrich's parents stepped up next, and Ulrich hugged them.

"When your father came home and told me the news, I couldn't believe my ears!" said Mrs. Stern. "We are so proud of you, son!" Ulrich rolled his eyes. Then he remembered the argument he had with his mom earlier that day. Ulrich's dad pulled him aside and talked to him.

"Your mother and I are so proud of you, Ulrich. I knew when Mr. Campbell asked you to give your honest opinion of that idea, that you would go far, son!" said Mr. Stern. Ulrich chuckled. He had even more doubts that his father was so sure that was what Mr. Campbell had in mind when he sat there. "I rushed home and told your mother. So was so happy, she wanted to throw a party in your honor, but we didn't know who to invite!" said Mr. Stern. "We thought about inviting your friends from the mailroom, and maybe even William! You remember Will, don't you, Ulrich?" Ulrich nodded, a little in shock that his own father didn't know that he wasn't exactly the best of friends with Herb and Nicholas, and he definitely wasn't friends with 'Will'. "We thought that they would be happy for you and your new job."

Ulrich frowned, he was happy he didn't let his parents go through with their idea. He knew William probably wouldn't have come, and if Herb and Nicholas came over, he knew that his mother wouldn't be too happy.

"But then your friend Odd Della Robbia called, and said he wanted to throw you a party as well, and he knew all the people he wanted to invite." said Mr. Stern. Ulrich was glad that Odd saved him from having to entertain Nicholas and Herb at his house. Ulrich made a mental note to thank him later.

"At first, we didn't want to have that blonde haired freak in our house..." Ulrich rolled his eyes again. He knew what his dad thought about Odd, and his mom probably didn't have anything to do with that decision. "But I figured that since you're the newest member of the development department, that it was time to show a little interdepartmental friendliness, and try opening up the lines of communication again! We'll be working together from time to time anyhow, so why not start now?"

Ulrich couldn't help but laugh at his father's explanation of why he suddenly trusted Odd. His dad gave him a look, and Ulrich just raised a hand until he was done laughing. "It's nothing, dad. Thanks for the party!" He hugged his father once more. Mr. Stern returned his son's hug, and then joined the party with his wife.

Ulrich walked over to the edge of the living room and surveyed all the guests of the party. There was Odd and Jeremy, standing near a table stacked full of snacks and drinks. Jeremy was talking, and Odd was chowing down on all the food. Aelita was standing in the corner, sipping on a soda. She would turn and sneak a peek at Jeremy, when she thought he wasn't looking. Jeremy would do the same when he thought Aelita wasn't looking. Ulrich grinned. He knew the truth about both of them, and how they both liked each other. He just needed to figure out how to get the both of them to realize it.

Ulrich looked back at them just as they looked at each other and caught the other's gaze. Jeremy and Aelita both stared at each other and then looked quickly away, Ulrich could tell that they were both blushing hard, even in this dim light. Jeremy smiled as he glanced back over at Aelita, and Aelita turned and hid a large grin from everyone. Jeremy blushed again, and Aelita blushed as well. They both turned back around, and Jeremy kept talking to Odd. Aelita turned and continued to sip her soda. Ulrich chuckled, and continued to look around at the people who came to his party.

He saw a couple of people from his new department, they all waved to him, and he waved back. Many of them all expressed their eagerness to work with Ulrich, and Ulrich thanked them. He never expected people would actually look forward to working with him! Ulrich continued to mingle and eat. He was enjoying this little get together, but then he noticed someone in the corner who Ulrich didn't recognize. He walked up to this mysterious person and introduced himself.

"Hi! How are you enjoying the party?" asked Ulrich. When Ulrich got close, he realized the person was wearing sunglasses indoors, and a scarf that covered most of their hair.

"Um… Hi…" said the person. Ulrich could tell that this person was a girl, about his age, maybe a bit older, and she had black hair, and a faint hint of an Asian accent.

"Hi, what department do you work in?" asked Ulrich. He figured it might be important to know where people worked since he was about to rub elbows with most of the people here, either because they worked in his department now, or because they were some sort of department head.

"Oh, I don't work in any of the departments..." said the girl, "I'm one of the actors—oh, excuse me—_actresses,"_ clarified the girl. Ulrich raised an eyebrow. He thought he knew this girl somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"So you must work with Seth Campbell!" said Ulrich, remembering who it was that was in charge of the movie productions at CEG.

"Yes, I know Seth! He's the best director I've worked with in my career!" said the girl. "Congratulations, by the way, on the new promotion. Odd told me, and thought that I should come to your party."

"So how do you know Odd?" asked Ulrich. Ulrich was a little jealous. Odd seemed to know everyone.

"He helped produce a couple of cartoons that I was the voice on," said the girl. "Not only can I act, I can apparently do good voices for cartoon characters as well." She flashed a large smile. Ulrich had to know who this girl was! Ulrich had a feeling he knew her, but he couldn't be sure, but he knew one person who might know who this mystery girl was. Ulrich excused himself, and then walked over to Odd. Odd was trying to give a pep talk to Jeremy to get him to go over and talk to Aelita, but Jeremy was still nervous.

"Come on! I saw her look at you! You just need to go over there and say, 'Hi! My name is Jeremy Belpois, and I like you'!" said Odd, trying to help the bashful nerd.

"Hey, Odd, who's that girl over—?" said Ulrich, tapping Odd on the shoulder.

"Hey, Ulrich, wait your turn. I'm giving our friend Einstein here a few pointers to win over our lady friend over there!" said Odd.

Ulrich scowled, he didn't expect to be cut off like that. "But I just want to know—" Ulrich tried saying again, but Odd cut him off again.

"Ulrich! One love struck friend at a time. If you want help from me, wait your turn!" Odd went back to psyching Jeremy up.

Ulrich folded his arms and scowled. He felt like this was all a waste of time. Trying to get Jeremy to try and talk to Aelita was like trying to hit a tennis ball with a rock as it flew over the roof of a house from opposite sides. The mystery girl walked up to Aelita, and the two of them exchanged greetings. Aelita and this mystery girl obviously knew each other. He decided he would ask Aelita who this girl was, and he walked over to ask her. But just then, Odd shoved Jeremy in that direction, and in his rush, Jeremy tripped over one of Ulrich's shoes, and almost fell in front of Aelita. Aelita turned at the last moment to see what the commotion was, and reached out and caught Jeremy before he fell at her shoes.

Jeremy looked up and blushed, and Aelita looked down at the shy nerd and blushed as well. Jeremy stood up straight and rubbed the back of his head in nervousness. Aelita hid a smile, and she giggled as Jeremy tried to get words out of his mouth.

"Um… Hi...Aelita..." said Jeremy. His face was lit up like a cherry tomato.

"Hi there…Jeremy..." Aelita seemed to gasp as she said Jeremy's name, and her face was almost the same shade as her hair.

Jeremy gulped and let out a sigh, he didn't know what to say. He looked like he was about to defuse a bomb. His fingers were twitching, and his upper lip was quivering. His brow was covered in sweat, and when he opened his mouth, no words came out, but instead, a small squeak. He turned to leave, but Ulrich didn't want that. He went to turn Jeremy back around, and even Odd jumped in to try and get the nerd to talk to Aelita. But Aelita beat both, and she grabbed the nerd by the collar, swung him around, and kissed him right on the mouth! Jeremy tensed up when Aelita kissed him, but after a couple seconds, he relaxed and kissed Aelita back. Ulrich and Odd were both floored. Odd looked at Jeremy and Aelita, and then at Ulrich, his jaw slightly agape, like he wanted Ulrich to give him an explanation of what just happened. Ulrich didn't have one, he was as shocked as Odd was. A couple people from the animation and the development departments saw Aelita and Jeremy kissing, and they quietly cheered.

Aelita pulled away from Jeremy, and Jeremy was frozen in the same position when Aelita kissed him. Jeremy and Aelita blushed even harder, and Ulrich was sure that if they could blush any harder than they already were, that their faces would turn a permanent shade of red and pink. Aelita looked into Jeremy's eyes, but Jeremy had his squinted closed from surprise. She giggled a little, and Odd elbowed Jeremy. Jeremy relaxed, and then looked around. He saw Aelita, and gasped. Odd elbowed him again, and Aelita giggled.

"I- I- I- heard you needed to speak to me?" gasped Jeremy. Aelita's face fell a little. She was hoping Jeremy could have said something different.

"Um…yeah..." said Aelita, her smile was fading fast. "Couldn't we talk about that tomorrow?"

Jeremy looked at Odd for help, but Odd never thought that Jeremy would get this far, so he was all out of options. Ulrich however knew what to do. He leaned in and whispered into the nerd's ear. Jeremy looked shocked at Ulrich's idea, but Ulrich just grinned and gave him a thumbs up. Jeremy gulped and then walked up next to Aelita again. Aelita looked down at the nerd, and she frowned. Ulrich thought that she might cry. Jeremy put his hand over his heart, and stuck out the other one, he then lowered himself into a respectful bow and said.

"Aelita, are you, um…doing anything this Friday?" he asked, he looked up at Aelita, and Aelita broke out into a large smile. She squealed, and then threw herself at Jeremy. She hugged Jeremy, and Jeremy gasped at Aelita's sudden move. Aelita looked up at Jeremy, and then smiled.

"Yes! I mean..." she said, noticing Jeremy's fallen look, he thought that she meant that she was doing something. Aelita quickly changed her answer. "I mean no!" Now Jeremy thought he was being rejected he let go of Aelita, and stumbled backwards, the mysterious girl in the corner leaned in and whispered something in Aelita's ear. Aelita nodded, and then turned back to Jeremy.

"I mean, I would love to go with you to do something on Friday!" said Aelita. Jeremy heard her, and it looked like he couldn't be happier.

Jeremy hugged Aelita, and Aelita pecked him on the cheek. Odd and Ulrich both turned to each other and high-fived each other, and then did a bit of a victory dance. Jeremy released Aelita, and then turned to face his friends. Odd and Ulrich immediately snapped back to being serious, and then Odd gave Jeremy a thumbs up. Ulrich gave him a pat on the back and whispered congratulations for finally manning up. Jeremy scowled. He thanked Ulrich anyhow for helping him, and then went back and put an arm around Aelita. Aelita wanted to go sit down, and everyone agreed. Ulrich laughed. He figured he knew why Aelita wanted to sit down. It looked like she would pass out at any moment. Ulrich, Odd, Aelita, Jeremy, and the mystery girl all walked through the party, and took a seat in the front room furniture near the window.

Aelita and Jeremy took one couch, Aelita sat down and Jeremy sat next to her, wrapping an arm around her. Aelita smiled at Jeremy, and she rested her head on Jeremy's chest. Ulrich went to sit on the other couch, and he thought that the mystery girl was going to come sit next to him, but Odd darted in front of her, and took the other seat on the couch. Ulrich and the girl scowled at Odd, and he just shrugged, and found the lever to fold out the footrest on the couch. He leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. The girl rolled her eyes, and took a seat in the large, leather armchair that sat nearby. Ulrich figured if Odd was going to hog the seat, then it would be a perfect time for him to ask Odd who this mystery girl was.

"Um…Odd?"

"Yeah, good buddy?" asked Odd, sitting himself up on his elbows to talk to Ulrich.

"Who's that girl over there?" he whispered to Odd so the girl wouldn't hear him.

"Who? Her? You mean to tell me you don't recognize the lead actress on most of CEG's films?" asked Odd. "She's even a pretty good voice actress for some of the cartoons I helped develop..." He began to trail off.

"I know that! She told me herself!" hissed Ulrich. "A name?! What's her name?!"

"You're honestly telling me you don't recognize Yumi from grade school?" asked Odd.

Then it hit Ulrich. He was looking at Yumi Ishiyama! He thought he recognized her, but he couldn't put his finger on it just yet when he saw her. Ulrich looked past the sunglasses that she wore indoors, and the scarf she wore over her long, black hair, and Ulrich couldn't deny it. He was looking at Yumi! Ulrich asked Odd about the glasses and the scarf.

"She's a big actress now Ulrich!" said Odd, in a bit of a condescending tone. Ulrich frowned. He knew that already! She had told him! And now Odd had just repeated it!

"She doesn't like to be noticed when she goes out in public, so she tries to hide herself. It's fooled you apparently!" snickered Odd, and he lay back down on the couch. Ulrich's frown turned into a scowl and then he looked back to Yumi. He remembered seeing her when he grew up. She had just moved from Japan with her family. And although he wouldn't have admitted it, he had a bit of a crush on her.

"Hey! I remember now! People in school used to tell me you had a crush on her!" said Odd, without even opening his eyes. Ulrich blushed and looked at Yumi, he was glad she was busy talking with Aelita and Jeremy, and couldn't hear what loud-mouthed Odd just said. Ulrich suddenly had a pounding headache. He had two conflicting memories going on in his head. Ulrich cleared his head and sat up.

"Yumi and I…were just friends!" said Ulrich, gasping a little. Ulrich winced again, but Odd didn't notice, and Yumi, Aelita and Jeremy were still too busy talking to take notice that Ulrich was having problems.

"I heard that about you too!" admitted Odd. Apparently he was the source of gossip and rumors in school. "I heard that you only said that you and Yumi were just 'good friends'," said Odd, putting that last part in air quotes. "But then that guy William started going out with her in high school, and then it was obvious you guys were only good friends."

"What?" gasped Ulrich, sweat starting to break out on his brow. That wasn't right! Yumi—Yumi liked him! They were friends way before William showed up! At the factory! Ulrich's head felt like it was going to split open. He gasped again, and another, contradicting stream of memories came to him. Ulrich was a straight-'A' student, star of the soccer team, and—and—friendless. Ulrich felt tears come to his eyes.

"Yeah, you may have been a good student and all, and maybe even star of the soccer team, but you were lousy when it came to making friends!" said Odd, "And I think Yumi got tired of waiting for you to make a move, so she just went with William!" said Odd.

This didn't add up! He and Yumi were friends! With Aelita, and Jeremy, and Odd! Right? Ulrich grabbed his head and groaned softly. The other stream of memories came back to make Ulrich doubt himself. Jeremy was just another student that Ulrich saw around school, Aelita was the daughter of the Science teacher, but one day, she disappeared. Her father had obviously gotten involved with Mr. Campbell, and had moved away for bigger and better prospects. Odd was the cool kid Ulrich saw around campus. He was always the one that people went to hang out with, or for the latest gossip.

"And then, you started going out with, what's her name...Elizabeth? Oh, wait! That's right! You went out with Sissi!" said Odd.

Ulrich wished Odd would shut up. With every word he said, more memories came back, and his head hurt more. Ulrich could see an older Yumi, holding hands with William, and she leaned in and kissed him. Ulrich felt like he was going to be sick. Ulrich stopped looking at Yumi, and then looked at the person at his side. Elizabeth Delmas was standing next to him, she leaned in to kiss him, and Ulrich did the same. Ulrich's grades suffered slightly after that, and he injured himself on the soccer field one day, showing off for Sissi and Yumi, but mostly for Yumi.

"And then William went on to write romantic screenplays, and he got a job a CGE, as head of Seth's department. Yumi got the lead role in the movie..." said Odd with a chuckle. "No surprise there! But then he made Seth his director, and Seth received an award for his movie. And the rest is history!"

Ulrich's head felt like it was history after everything Odd said. Ulrich remembered watching all this on the news. It was a big deal for someone other than Mr. Campbell to have written a screenplay for a movie, so when William got the honor, the media was all over it. Yumi got the lead role in the movie, and that launched her into stardom. The movie did so good that William and Seth got awards for it, and then Seth accidentally hit William, and that marked the end of William's career in the film biz. Yumi however distanced herself from William. She rose while he fell. Ulrich, however, went on to college.

Sissi followed him there, but the two of them quickly broke up once Ulrich learned about Yumi and her rise to fame. He only went out with her to make Yumi jealous, but it obviously didn't work, and he felt like he wasted his time in high school. He was depressed and didn't spend enough time on studying like he used to. As such, Ulrich wasn't able to graduate when he wanted to, or in the field he wanted to, and had to spend more time and money, making up the classes he failed. Ulrich had to apply at the bottom of the executive ladder, and spent his time in the mailroom, hoping to end up like his dad one day. He tried to make friends with people, but he was still not good at it. The only people he was able to make friends with were Herb and Nicholas, since they had spent a lot of time with Sissi as he did growing up.

Ulrich panted and sighed, his head hurt terribly. He threw back his head and screamed. Odd sat up quickly, and tried to help. Aelita leapt off Jeremy, and Jeremy followed after her to see what was wrong with Ulrich. Yumi followed the rest of the group, and everyone gathered around Ulrich. Ulrich shouted and groaned as his head threatened to split open. There were too many thoughts in his head, and all of them conflicted with the next.

Was he Ulrich Stern, the 13-year-old? The boy who liked to goof off, and hang out with his friends in the factory, and fight XANA? Or was he Ulrich Stern, the 23-year-old, who had almost no friends, worked in the mailroom, and didn't know anything about a factory, XANA, or his previous friends? The two identities tried blending into one, but they were so different from each other that they couldn't. Ulrich tried fighting for one or the other, but he couldn't tell the two of them apart, each time he tried fighting for one, it would seem he was fighting against it instead, so he would try switching, and instead, he would seem to fight against that one. Ulrich was so confused and his head hurt so bad.

Ulrich passed out, and tried waking up from his dream. The entire day, he thought that this had been a dream, but this was a horribly vivid dream! Ulrich thought back to the beginning of the day, he had fallen asleep in the factory, and then he thought he woke up in a dream, but now it seemed like he fell asleep, and woke up in some alternate universe where no one in their group met in school, there was no XANA, and everything didn't make sense. Ulrich tried sorting through his scattered thoughts. He knew he couldn't be totally wrong. He did fall asleep in the factory lab, but when he woke up, he was in an alternate universe ten years later. Ulrich's brain hurt just thinking about it, and how it even could be possible. He knew he had to make a choice, either go back to the factory, or stay here in this universe and see what happened.

Ulrich didn't know how he was going to get back, but he still didn't know how he got here in the first place. He knew his brain would be able to figure it out once he made a decision on where to go. Ulrich blocked out the pain, and made his choice. He could hear Aelita, Odd, Jeremy, and Yumi shouting at him to come back. Ulrich moved in the direction of their voices, hoping he made the right choice.

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Next Chapter: '?'


	3. New Faces, Same Story

Hey great people of the internet! I have an announcement to make before we get started. On November 4th, 2012, I will be signing off and I will be leaving the U.S shortly afterwards to go to Canada for two years to serve my church as a missionary for my church. During that time, I will not be able to update my stories, or PM anyone during that time (So please don't try...) Before I go, I will most likely be taking down my stories from the site, and re-uploading them two years from now again when I get back. Although I haven't decided to leave them up yet, let me know what you think... So if you like my stories, I encourage you to stick around and wait patiently for their return! I appreciate all you loyal readers, for reading my stories of course, and to Redwolf11 for being my beta reader during that time, and to Lunasky198 also for the support and encouragement, and for recently being my Beta for both my stories, as Redwolf11 takes a break. Thank you!

Chapter 3: 'New Faces, Same Story...'

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Ulrich rose a couple of inches off the surface he was laying on. His eyes felt heavy and groggy, and he almost wanted to go back to sleep. The surface he was laid out on was hard, but it was a lot more comfortable than…than—what was he trying to think of? Ulrich couldn't remember anything from earlier, or even why he had passed out. His head hurt, and it felt like someone had taken a jack hammer to the inside of his skull, turning his brain to jelly. Ulrich winced as he sat up. Yumi and Odd smiled as he rose. A firm hand pushed him back down, though.

"Easy there, Ulrich. You had a bit of a shock there, and you passed out." Ulrich looked up to see that Aelita was the one pushing him back down. She felt up his forehead to make sure he wasn't too chilly. Ulrich felt like this was all too much.

Odd walked up to Ulrich, and looked down at him. He smiled, and then asked, "How are you feeling, good buddy?"

"Not bad..." mumbled Ulrich through thick lips.

"You gave us quite a scare there, I thought we were going to have to call an ambulance!"

"How…how long was I out?" Ulrich asked. He raised a hand and rubbed his face to rid himself of sleep.

"A couple of minutes at least, we thought we were going to have to call an ambulance," reiterated Aelita calmly. Ulrich was surprised she was taking this like she was. Ulrich expected everyone to be raising a fuss.

"What happened?" asked Ulrich. He tried sitting up again, but Aelita forced him back down again.

Ulrich grunted and shot a look at Aelita. Aelita shot a look back, and went back to tending to him. Ulrich looked to Jeremy for help. Jeremy just shrugged, leaning up against the wall. Ulrich was lying on the kitchen table in his parent's house. Then it came to him. He had wrestled with his own mind, coming to grips with what actually happened in his life. Odd had been the one to tell him, but now he felt like he couldn't believe him. Odd had told him he was a friendless nerd that dated Sissi. He skated his way through high school and college after he started having feelings for Yumi that weren't reciprocated by her in turn. This killed Ulrich, and made him more of an introvert and a loner than he already was. Ulrich then landed the only job he could get, at CEG—or Campbell Entertainment Group—as a mailroom clerk. Ulrich swallowed as his headache subsided. He still couldn't believe what happened to him. To say the least about what happened to the last ten years without him.

Ulrich sat up slowly, and this time Aelita let him. The last limited amount of memories he had left of his past life faded from his mind. He was now certain he was Ulrich Stern, the 23-year-old, once again. Someone had laid him out on the table, and removed the tie around his neck, and loosened a couple of buttons on his white shirt. Odd was standing near him at his side, and Yumi stood next to Odd. She looked worried, but as Ulrich sat up, her worried look turned to a smile. Aelita crossed her arms, and looked down at Ulrich. Ulrich cowered under her height, she was very tall, but then again, she was using her tiptoes to be taller. She stepped down as Ulrich stood up, and she helped Ulrich get to his feet. Ulrich took a couple of steps, and then walked over to the cabinet where his parents kept the cups. He pulled one out, and then filled it with water from the sink.

Ulrich turned and looked at his friends and his parents as well that he hadn't seen before. Jeremy stood near Aelita in the corner, an arm around her shoulder. Although Aelita had tended to him, he still looked worried for Ulrich. Aelita looked worried too. Jeremy noticed this, and he leaned in and pecked her on the cheek to try to cheer her up. Aelita smiled and pecked him back. Then the two of them went back to staring at Ulrich. Yumi stood near Odd at the table. Yumi had taken off the scarf and sunglasses, and she stood there looking just like she had in high school. She had a look of worry as well, etched into her features. Odd had untied his purple tie. It was resting on his shoulders, limp and lifeless, just like the look on Odd's face. His parents were standing near the kitchen window that Ulrich couldn't have seen earlier as he lay on the table. Mr. Stern had Mrs. Stern in a tight embrace to comfort her. She looked like she could have passed out. Ulrich raised the cup to his lips. Everyone was staring at him. Ulrich lowered the cup and stared back at everyone.

"Are you waiting for me to do a trick?" he asked. Everyone broke out in laughter, and rushed to talk to Ulrich. Ulrich raised the cup to his mouth and drank the water before responding to any of the inquiries.

"What happened?"

"Are you okay?"

"We thought you were going to die!"

"How do you feel, good buddy?"

"Oh, son!" sighed his mother, and she fell into Ulrich's arms.

"Mom!" gasped Ulrich. He dropped the cup on the counter quickly, and then caught his mother before she fell. "I'm okay, honestly!"

"I know, son. I was just so worried!" cried Ulrich's mom.

"Mom, stop it, you're embarrassing me in front of my friends!" said Ulrich. Ulrich's mom pulled back from him.

"Friends? Ulrich, sweetie, you just said friends!" she gave a little cheer and looked around at Odd, Yumi, Aelita, and Jeremy, "You're…Ulrich's friends?" Jeremy and Odd nodded, as did Aelita. Yumi took a moment to think, but then Aelita broke away from Jeremy for a second, and whispered something to Yumi. Yumi nodded, and Ulrich's mom cheered again.

"Mom! I had friends before!" said Ulrich.

"Oh, but not this many, dear. And none of them girls!" said Ulrich's mom. Ulrich sighed. "Oh, and she's cute, Ulrich. Are you sure you're not more than friends?" she asked, pointing to Yumi.

"Mom!" shouted Ulrich. "She's just a good friend!"

"Where have we heard that on before, huh, Elise?" said Mr. Stern, leaning in to elbow Ulrich.

"Otto!" warned Mrs. Stern.

"Dad!" shouted Ulrich.

"What? I'm sorry, son. I just feel like I've heard that line too often!" said Mr. Stern. "This old man may have had only one kid, but I want to have grand-kids eventually!" whispered Mr. Stern to Ulrich, perhaps a little too loudly.

"Maybe we should go..." said Yumi, heading to leave.

"No! Don't go, we'll leave, and let you guys get back to your socializing!" said Mrs. Stern.

Mr. Stern opened his mouth to complain, but then he closed it after a look from his wife. Mr. and Mrs. Stern bid goodnight to Ulrich and his friends, and went upstairs to go to bed. Most of the party guests had already left. The only people who were left were himself, Odd, Yumi, Jeremy, and Aelita. Odd flopped down on the couch in the front room, and pulled the release lever to unfold the footrest from the couch. Aelita and Jeremy went back to sitting on the couch by themselves. Jeremy wrapped an arm around her, and Aelita snuggled close to Jeremy and closed her eyes.

"It's amazing how fast they've become a couple isn't it?" asked a voice from behind Ulrich. Ulrich turned and saw Yumi.

"Yeah, I've wondered about that..." said Ulrich, he crossed his arms in front of his chest and gave a look to Jeremy. Jeremy just shrugged his shoulders and looked back to the dozing Aelita, "It's like they've gone out before..." Ulrich said to Yumi.

"They used to go out in grade school." said Yumi with a smile, "But when Aelita left school with her father—after her father made it big at CEG—Aelita had to leave Jeremy, and it left him heartbroken." she said "I guess that's the reason Jeremy studied animation in school, and tried to get into her department. He wanted to see her again," concluded Yumi. "I guess this is just a rekindling of the flame that was always there..." said Yumi mystically as she looked at Ulrich. Ulrich felt his face warm as he blushed, looking at Yumi.

Ulrich walked over to the only free seat that wasn't next to Odd. Odd was already asleep and snoring loudly. Aelita was fast asleep as well, and Jeremy watched over her as sort of protector. Ulrich sat down in the leather armchair and put his feet up on the coffee table in the middle of the room. Yumi didn't want to sit next to Odd either, so she came and sat on the large, padded arm of the chair Ulrich was sitting in. She leaned back on the padded back and closed her eyes. Ulrich felt himself blush again as he looked at the slender figure of Yumi. She looked exactly as she did in high school. Her short, black hair barely reached her neck, and her bangs were pulled one way, over her eyes.

Ulrich remembered seeing her in the news earlier that day. She had worn a slim, silver dress, with light makeup, and her hair tied up in a tight bun. What she wore now seemed to be a complete opposite of that. Her hair was down and flowing around her face as she lay there on the chair. She also wore a black t-shirt with a low-cut neck with a small, gold star decal on the shoulder, and again near the bottom of the shirt on the opposite side. She also wore black jeans. The only thing that seemed to be out-of-place were the short, silver high heels she wore under her jeans, and the large, red studded earrings she wore. The outfit seemed a little intimidating, and it was just how she dressed in school, which was one of the reasons he never asked her out in school. He always thought that if he even got near Yumi, she would bite his head off. That's probably one of the reasons William asked her out instead. He wasn't put off by Yumi's intimidating look, and actually saw it as part of what made her attractive.

Ulrich blushed one more time as he looked at Yumi, and then looked away. Yumi noticed, and she sat up and looked at Ulrich. Ulrich tried to hide his face, but Yumi kept staring at him. She stared intently as Ulrich sat, trying not to look her in return. After a moment of staring at Ulrich, she gave up and lay back down, closing her eyes again. Ulrich looked over at Jeremy. He was nodding off, just like everyone else in the room, but before he closed his eyes, he gave Ulrich a look that could only be meant to mean 'talk to her!' He then closed his eyes and nodded off with Aelita. Ulrich looked at Yumi. She had closed her eyes again, but it was obvious she wasn't asleep. She was humming a tune, and waving a finger in the air in time to the music. Ulrich built up his courage, and then cleared his throat. Yumi stopped humming, sat up, and looked at Ulrich.

"What?" demanded Yumi.

Something had been bothering Ulrich all night. "Why did you come to my party? You hardly knew me in school, and I doubt you came just because Odd told you to," said Ulrich. Real smooth, Ulrich. The first thing out of your mouth is an accusation... he thought.

"Just because we never talked to each other much in school, doesn't mean I don't know who you are, Ulrich Stern." said Yumi with a sly smile. "You were the captain of the soccer team, and star of it as well. And a bit of a show-off too, if I remember right..." Yumi said with another smile.

"_Great... All she remembers me as is the show-off captain of the soccer team... Am I nothing else to her?_" thought Ulrich.

"Of course, there was that one time we worked together in Mrs. Hertz's class on that nature project. I think that was the only project for her class I got a good grade on..." said Yumi, trailing off in thought.

Ulrich had almost forgotten about that! Then again, seeing how he was a completely different person up until a couple of hours ago, he couldn't remember a lot about his past. But now that Yumi mentioned it, he remembered that project. It was a year after he had gotten into middle school. Their science teacher had joined her classes of ninth and tenth graders to do a project where they had to sketch and take pictures of plants Ulrich had managed to get Yumi as his partner. It had been the only time he really talked to Yumi. It was then he found out all about her and where she came from. Up until about a couple of months ago, she had lived in Japan. Her father transferred jobs, and they all moved to France. It was during that project that Ulrich realized he had feelings for Yumi. Although, through his middle and high school careers, he never again got up the nerve to talk to Yumi again, and then she started going out with William. Ulrich felt heartbroken. He never got the chance to tell Yumi how he felt about her, and from there, she graduated and went on to college. After a couple of months into his senior year of high school, Ulrich heard the news that Yumi hit it big with William's first romantic screenplay. She was the leading star, and won many awards for it. It was then that Seth 'bashed' his nose in and sent him packing from writing, and he wound up in the mailroom...as his boss.

Ulrich wondered why William chose to hire him. It would seem to him that William wouldn't want to do anything that involved Ulrich. Then he figured it was only to see Ulrich suffer as he had. Being a mailroom clerk was not a particularly glamorous job. Ulrich figured it was only by luck he got the new job at CEG as the Vice President of Development. Ulrich had been lost in thought, and while he was remembering his past, Yumi had dozed off. Ulrich wanted to ask her more questions, but he too was tired. It had been a long day. Odd was snoring loudly, and Jeremy and Aelita were peacefully dozing, wrapped up in each other's arms. Yumi was stretched out on the arm of the chair Ulrich was in, her eyes closed, and her mouth slightly open. Ulrich sighed and stretched out in the chair. His eyes were heavy. He closed them and fell asleep.

Ulrich woke up to the smell of eggs and bacon. He sat up and looked around. Aelita was still lying on his couch, but Jeremy was gone. Odd was gone as well, but he had left his purple tie on the arm of the couch. Ulrich went to stand up, but he couldn't. He looked down and saw Yumi curled up in a ball in his lap. Apparently in the middle of the night she had slipped off the arm of the chair and into his lap. She looked peaceful, and Ulrich didn't want to bother her. He carefully removed himself out from under Yumi, and went to the kitchen. Jeremy and Odd were cooking breakfast, and his parents stumbled into the kitchen after Ulrich in their pajamas. They sniffed the air and looked around. When his father saw Odd cooking food in his house, he looked like he could have had a heart attack.

"You! You purple haired, freak! What are you still doing in my house?!" shouted Mr. Stern.

"Otto! Calm down! I don't mind...and this bacon is to die for!" she said, chomping on a piece that Odd had cooked up.

Mr. Stern gasped and sputtered. He didn't know what to say. On one hand, he wanted to kick Odd out of his house for overstaying his welcome, and for cooking his food without permission. But however, his wife was saying that it was okay that Odd and Jeremy were still here, and cooking them breakfast. Mr. Stern conceded. At least he got a free breakfast out of this, but he was still upset that he was the one footing the bill. Ulrich laughed and promised to pay his father back for breakfast. With the new job, he'd be able to pay him back, and then some. Jeremy walked up to Mr. Stern with a cup of coffee, and he sipped at it. Everything he said about Odd and Jeremy leaving vanished in an instant.

"Wow! This cup of coffee is great!" he said. "What's your secret?" Jeremy just said he followed the instructions on the side of the can.

"It's great!" remarked Mr. Stern. Mrs. Stern frowned.

"You never say my coffee's that good when I make it, Otto..." she pouted.

"Your coffee's fine, Elise, but this is awesome!" said Mr. Stern. Jeremy laughed and poured her a cup she sipped it and said it was 'okay'. Ulrich laughed again. He could tell she liked it more than she was letting on.

Aelita came into the kitchen. Her clothes were a little wrinkly, but she looked just like she did last night. Her pink hair was a little ruffled, and her plain pink t-shirt had a couple of wrinkles from sleeping on the couch. She wore a regular pair of blue jeans and a pair of sparkly pink flats. If Ulrich had seen her on the street, he would have figured her for a hipster, or maybe even an eccentric DJ, instead of one of the most successful businesswomen in the city. She yawned and stretched, and Jeremy poured her a cup of coffee. She smiled groggily and accepted it. She sipped it and smiled at Jeremy. Jeremy smiled back and Aelita took a seat at the kitchen table. Yumi came in a couple of minutes later as the smell of breakfast overwhelmed the house. She ran a hand through her hair to straighten it, and then took a cup of coffee from Jeremy. She sat down and stirred cream into it and took a sip. She smiled at Jeremy and said it was good. Odd came over a second later after everyone had gotten their coffee, and brought over plates and plates of food.

"Eat up!" he said, and then he sat down next to Ulrich.

There were plates of eggs, hash browns, bacon, sausage, and ham, and even a plate of toasted English muffins and toast. Ulrich didn't know where to start. He was so hungry, and it felt like he hadn't eaten since lunch yesterday. Jeremy helped serve Aelita, and Aelita smiled at him. He then passed the plates around until everyone had gotten what they wanted. Ulrich thought that Odd had made a bit too much, even for the seven of them, but when the plates made it around to Odd, most of the food disappeared off them. Ulrich then realized why he had made so much food. It wasn't for everybody, it was for him.

Just as everyone settled in to eat, there was a knock at the door. "I'll get it!" said Ulrich, hopping up to answer the door.

Ulrich pulled it open, and standing on his doorstep was Hayden and Seth. A long stretch limo was parked just outside his house. Hayden turned and waved to his dad who was in the limo, and Mr. Campbell waved back and shut the door. The limo drove off, and Hayden and Seth turned back around to face Ulrich.

"Hey! We just wanted to come see how the new Vice President of Development was doing this morning!" said Hayden, clapping Ulrich on the back.

Ulrich grunted as Hayden slapped him on the back, "N-not bad! How are you guys? What are you doing here?"

"There's a few things we need to do before you're officially made the new Vice President. Just some paperwork, that's all…" said Seth, pulling a stack of papers out of a messenger bag at his side. "Although, I might add, you have to tell me what that wonderful aroma coming from your kitchen is..." said Seth, sniffing the air.

"Um…we just sat down to eat breakfast. Shouldn't you guys be at work with your dad?" asked Ulrich, looking at his watch.

"Nah, we can breeze into work anytime we want! Besides, he only went early to make sure everything else was in order for your arrival, and to make sure your replacement showed up this morning," said Hayden. Ulrich was surprised. Hayden seemed like a really punctual guy, and having him tell Ulrich that he could go to work anytime he wanted to, surprised him. But Hayden saw Ulrich's look of surprise and clarified.

"This is only for today, mind you, and maybe tomorrow if you can tell me what's for breakfast..." said Hayden. He had caught a whiff of the smells coming out of the house as well. Ulrich invited them in, and the two rushed towards the smells of food.

Hayden and Seth walked into the kitchen and shouted greetings. Ulrich's dad looked up from his newspaper and spit out his orange juice. He had never expected to have the boss' kids in his house. Mr. Stern stood up to shake their hands, and Hayden and Seth just asked him to sit back down. Mr. Stern took a seat, and began spooning what was left of breakfast on two plates. Hayden and Seth sat down next to Odd, and Jeremy poured them juice, since they refused coffee. They talked and joked as they ate breakfast, and Ulrich couldn't remember a time when he felt this happy.

After breakfast, Aelita and Jeremy thanked Mr. and Mrs. Stern for allowing them to come over, and they left to get ready for work. Aelita left in a sporty pink car, and Jeremy left in a blue car, a lot like Ulrich's beat up one. Yumi said she was needed on set for a rehearsal for a TV show she was on, and bid farewell to Ulrich and Seth. Seth said that he would see her later, and she left in a green convertible car. Odd took off before Mrs. Stern could say anything about the dishes made by him, and he left in a yellow Jeep. Mr. Stern went upstairs to get ready for work, and Mrs. Stern got started on the dishes made by Odd, after she realized he took off without helping. Ulrich sat at the table with Hayden and Seth, sipping his coffee. Hayden went over the paperwork he needed to sign, and also a quick run through of all the new things he would need to do as the new Vice President. Seth and Hayden finished their breakfasts, and thanked Mrs. Stern for the food. Ulrich took their dishes and gave them to his mom, and then went upstairs and got ready for work.

Before Odd had left, he told Ulrich that he could dress however he wanted, but also to keep some sort of look of professionalism. Ulrich threw on a new white shirt, and he put on a tie he found in the back of his closet. It was black and white checkered, and went with his checkered converse shoes. He brushed a couple of crumbs off his pants and then went back downstairs. Hayden and Seth were still there talking to Mr. Stern. Mr. Stern bid farewell to the twins, and went to go to work. Ulrich went to go after him to get into his own car. Hayden stopped him though.

"Whoa there, man! You shouldn't be seen driving that! Here, let us give you a ride to work..." said Hayden.

He clicked the button on a key-chain, and a car sitting at the end of their driveway honked. A sleek, black, sports car sat at the end of the driveway. Hayden walked towards the driver's seat and went to get in, but Seth rushed ahead and stole the keys and sat in the driver's seat first. Hayden growled and demanded Seth get out of the seat.

"No way, man. You always drive this car, and I never get the chance. And it has the coolest doors, and an awesome sound system!" said Seth.

"That's because it's _my_ car! I bought it..._for me!_" yelled Hayden.

Seth ignored Hayden and he pulled on the butterfly door so it would close, and turned on the radio really loud to drown Hayden out. Hayden rolled his eyes and figured it would be better to just let him drive. He went over to the other door and pulled it open. He slid the passenger seat forward and threw himself in the back. Ulrich could tell he was grumbling, but he let Ulrich sit in the front seat of the car, just to be polite. Ulrich hopped in the passenger seat and felt the leather seat underneath him rumble as Seth gunned the engine.

"Watch it, man!" shouted Hayden from the backseat, "This car is still new! I do not need you wrecking it!"

"Yeah, yeah, backseat drivers aren't needed, either!" shouted Seth over the radio.

Seth threw the car into gear and Hayden sat forward and said to Ulrich, "You might want to buckle up..."

"Why—?"

A second later, Ulrich had his answer, Seth gunned the engine and the car took off like an arrow from a bow. Hayden moaned with concern from the backseat and Ulrich quickly did up his seat belt. Now he knew why Hayden didn't want Seth driving his car. He played music way too loud, and he drove way too fast for speed limits. It wasn't long until they were across town pulling up to the studio where CEG produced all of their movies and TV shows. Seth pulled the car to a screeching halt and hopped out. Ulrich got out and then let Hayden out. Hayden looked glad to have finally gotten back to solid ground. He ran a quick check around the car to make sure nothing was wrong. After a couple passes around the car, Hayden stood up.

"Are you happy?" asked Seth. Hayden scowled. He walked over and snatched the keys away from Seth.

"Do that again, and I'll tell dad…" threatened Hayden. Seth scoffed and turned and walked into the studio.

"I know this probably isn't the best of circumstances, but do you want to meet a couple of the actors before we get going to work?" asked Hayden.

"Can we?" asked Ulrich. He wasn't sure it was a good idea.

"Yeah, they might be in the middle of shooting, but we can wait for a break and then you can meet a couple of the actors and actresses that you'll be working with to develop your shows," said Hayden, opening up the door to the studio that Seth just went in.

Hayden and Ulrich stood in the back of the studio just as Seth called for marker. A set hand clapped the marker board, and the scene started rolling. A girl in a white summer dress walked on an impressive looking manor set. She talked to a fit man in a purple button up shirt. It was obvious that this scene was a tense moment on a soap opera. The scene ended and the actors and actresses all took a break. Seth walked over to Hayden and Seth and Hayden whispered something to Seth. Seth started to refuse, but then he dangled the keys to his car in front of Seth as a bit of blackmail, and Seth caved. He called over one of the actors and two of the actresses.

The first actress was a girl about Yumi's age, and about a head shorter than Ulrich and Hayden. She had been the one that wore the white summer dress in the scene they just rehearsed. She had dark, black hair, and a whitish blonde streak through her bangs. Her eyes were very prominent under her hair. A deep, blue color, almost like cut sapphire. Ulrich wouldn't have been able to tell if hadn't been for the girl's eyelashes. They were longer than most other's people, but when her eyes were open, they were like pools of dark liquid. She looked pretty normal if it weren't for the streak in her hair. She extended a hand for Ulrich to shake, and he shook it. After she let go, Ulrich noticed she had very interesting painted nails. Each nail was painted a deep, blue color, almost the same shade as her eyes. And on top of it, little, white stars were meticulously painted on each nail in a pattern. Ulrich took back what he thought earlier about this girl being normal. Everything seemed special about this girl. She introduced herself as Luna Skye. She looked over to Hayden and Hayden waved hello. Ulrich was about to talk to her when she walked off to talk to Hayden. Hayden bent down and hugged Luna, and she kissed him on the cheek.

Ulrich was taken aback. He now knew Hayden's ulterior motive for coming in here. He obviously wanted to see his girlfriend. Hayden walked over to Ulrich and introduced Luna again.

"Ulrich, I want you to meet Luna Skye, lead actress on France's number one soap opera, 'Choix Silencieuse', and she just so happens to be my girlfriend..." added Hayden, and Luna and Hayden kissed each other again. Hayden put an arm around Luna's shoulder and looked back to Ulrich. Ulrich felt a little weirded out at this sudden revelation.

"I thought you were single..." said Ulrich, "All those love letters never mentioned another girl!"

"What's those?" laughed Hayden, "You're going to believe a bunch of love crazed teenage girls? Besides, no one else in the public knows we're dating, and we've only been going out for two months. 'Choix Silencieuse' is based off a novel I wrote for my father's company, so I met her at the auditions for the show. She's done a little acting before, but 'Choix Silencieuse' has been her biggest role. Almost all the housewives in Paris watch it!" said Hayden. Luna blushed at Hayden's remarks.

"It's a pleasure to meet you..." said Luna, shaking hands with Ulrich again.

"Same here..." said Ulrich.

"Ulrich here is the new Vice President of Development for the company," said Hayden.

"I heard!" said Luna, "Hayden told me last night." When she noticed Ulrich's puzzled look, she added, "It's good to see someone other than Odd help produce shows for us," said Luna.

"What do you mean?" asked Ulrich.

"I mean that we might finally get some quality shows our way. The last three shows I've worked on have come from Hayden and his novels." said Luna, rolling her eyes. "Of course, that's not a bad thing!" she said noticing Hayden's hurt look. "I'm just saying that with you there, I'm hoping that the development department will not only make good shows, but also more shows. I have a friend that moved to Paris in hopes of becoming a famous actress. But with everything the way it is now, there aren't enough jobs for the people who really can act, and people like that get through." said Luna, pointing to the man she had just done the scene with.

He was a large man, not very tall, but well-built. The sleeves on his light purple button up shirt bulged from his large muscles. His dark hair was slicked back and he had tan skin, he looked like he was from Spain. The man came over and introduced himself as Rosario Robles. Luna rolled her eyes as he used his heavy Spanish accent to roll his R's. She bid a quick farewell to Hayden and went backstage to prepare for the next scene to get away from Rosario.

"I am so glad that you are now in charge, Mr. Youlrick," said Rosario with broken speech.

"Ul-rich!" enunciated the brunette.

"Youlrick..." said Rosario.

"You know what...never mind..." said Ulrich when he decided to switch gears. "Is the development department that bad?" he asked.

"It is not that bad..." said Rosario. "I just wish there were more shows available for people like me so I could get the money to bring my family over from Spain." said Rosario with great pride.

"You must love your family very much!" said Ulrich.

"Oh, very much, Mr. Youlrick! I left my family to become a famous actor, and to provide for my family!" said Rosario. "My mami is already here in Paris, and she loves watching me on the television. She's probably my number one fan!" said Rosario.

"More like his only fan…" whispered Hayden into Ulrich's ear. Ulrich laughed and Rosario looked at Ulrich with a puzzled look.

"What is so funny, Mr. Youlrick?" asked Rosario.

"Nothing..." laughed Ulrich. He couldn't stop laughing. He took a deep breath and said, "Honestly, it's nothing. You should go get ready for your next scene," said Ulrich. Rosario bid Ulrich 'adios!' and left. Ulrich turned as Rosario ran off, and asked Hayden, "Is he really that bad?"

"He's not terrible." said Hayden, waving his hand in the air to show 'so-so'. "But he's not good either. He's a little too dramatic when it's not needed, and doesn't show emotion when it's really needed. He certainly wasn't my first pick. But I got outvoted when it came to choosing this particular part. Since he was the only one that was good enough." said Hayden glumly. "Luna's right. There aren't enough acting jobs in Paris now for those who are good enough to have one, and there's been plenty of people who have come along in recent weeks that I certainly think could replace Rosario," said Hayden. Seth walked up and finished what his brother was saying.

"We've tried to get him to go to one of our other soap operas. He's still somewhat famous, but we think he'd be perfect for our new series 'Los Hermanos', a Spanish soap opera we've been trying out. It's been getting pretty poor reviews, but we think that with Rosario, that it would perk up."

"Of course, he won't leave! He thinks he's too popular here on this show, but he insists on staying. Say it's 'for the fans'," said Hayden, putting the last bit in mock air quotes, "I've even suggested that Seth make the writers kill him off, but Seth won't do it!"

"I can't force my writers to do anything!" said Seth.

"Wait, as director, don't you have final say of anything that's made?" asked Ulrich.

"Well, yeah, but my writers threatened to quit if I twisted another story around to make it into something else. I try to get them to listen to reason, but I think I have a couple Rosario fans on my writing staff," said Seth sheepishly. "And killing off Rosario's character would probably make half my writing staff quit..."

"Then fire them!" said Hayden. "Take a couple of my writers! I could use some new writers in my department anyway! We could trade!" he shouted.

"I just might have to take you up on that offer." Seth scratched his chin and walked away. Hayden laughed, and Ulrich looked back at the last actress that was in line to meet Ulrich. Ulrich's jaw dropped, it was Yumi!

"Hello there, Mr. Stern…thanks for breakfast this morning," said Yumi with a professional tone. She stuck out a hand for Ulrich to shake but Ulrich stood there dumbfounded.

Yumi looked stunning. She wore a red dress that showed off her figure, and her hair was styled with small curls. Ulrich thought she looked absolutely gorgeous. Yumi snapped her fingers, and Ulrich was brought back to reality. She was still holding out her hand, and she tapped her foot impatiently. Ulrich gasped and shook her hand quickly. She let go of Ulrich's hand and looked Ulrich up and down.

"Hmm…not too professional for your first day on the job, don't you think?" she asked, looking at Ulrich's clothes. "I guess that's what you get for taking Odd's word on how to dress."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ulrich. "Look at Hayden!"

Ulrich was right. Hayden was wearing almost the equivalent of what Ulrich was wearing. He wore a white button up shirt with a thin black tie. The only thing different about his outfit compared to Ulrich's was that he wore a black pair of split-toed running shoes made for athletes, and he wore a small decorative metal belt buckle under his shirt. Hayden kind of liked the way he looked. He took offense to what Ulrich and Yumi had to say to his clothes.

"Now, he's the boss' son. He can wear whatever he wants," said Yumi quietly so that only Ulrich could hear. She straitened Ulrich's checkered tie. She gave it a small crease at the top, making the tie dimple near the knot. She smoothed out his shirt. Ulrich blushed as she touched his chest. She was about to help him straighten his hair, but Ulrich pulled back at that.

"It's fine, Yumi, you don't need to go that far," said Ulrich.

Hayden stifled a chuckle, and then walked Ulrich away from Yumi. She went to get ready for her scene. Luna came back out for a second and bid one last farewell to Hayden. Ulrich waited until Hayden came back to finish giving him a ride to work. Ulrich heard Luna promise to come over for lunch after she was done rehearsing. Hayden promised to pick her and his brother up for dinner later. Hayden came back with a small smudge of red lipstick on his cheek. Ulrich wanted to point it out, but he figured he let Hayden find it himself. Hayden clicked the button on the key-chain of his car and opened the door to the driver's seat. He hopped in and Ulrich took the passenger's seat. Hayden turned on the car and pulled out of the parking lot of the studio. As soon as they pulled out into main traffic, Hayden turned off the radio and turned to Ulrich.

"She likes you, man!" said Hayden, elbowing Ulrich.

"Who? Luna?" asked Ulrich.

"What—? No! Yumi!"

Ulrich blushed. "Yumi—" stuttered Ulrich. "Yumi and I are just good friends, just like we were in boarding school," said Ulrich.

"Riiight, and Luna is just like a sister to me..." said Hayden sarcastically. "You know what I'm talking about. She helped straighten your tie and was about to straighten your hair. I doubt even Luna would help me with that!" admitted Hayden. "And as far as I've heard it, you and Yumi never really were friends in school."

"You've been listening to Odd too much," said Ulrich quietly.

Hayden laughed. "Odd might be a bit of a rumor mill, but he does have a hint of truth to all of his gossip. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this one is actually true."

"Whatever..." pouted Ulrich.

"I just calls it like I sees it, man. And I'm telling you, Yumi likes you, Ulrich," said Hayden. Ulrich folded his arms in anger and denial.

"And I'm telling you, man, Yumi and I are just good friends," said Ulrich coldly.

"Whatever. One of these days, you're going to wake up and realize what I'm saying is true," said Hayden.

"You have lipstick on your cheek," retorted Ulrich. He didn't know what else to say.

Hayden wiped his cheek with a napkin he found under the seat and turned the radio back on. Hayden might not have played his music as loud as Seth, but he did like to turn it up from time to time. Ulrich sat in the passenger seat fuming about what Hayden said. He couldn't believe what he had said about Yumi. But then, was it so crazy? She had sat next to him at the party after he passed out, even though there was still an empty seat next to Odd. And then when he woke up that morning, she was sitting next to him, curled up in a ball around him. And was she just wanted to help him look better? Or did she have an ulterior motive? Ulrich couldn't believe it. Yumi seemed to be the kind of person that wouldn't openly show affection like that. Then Ulrich got an idea, and he ran it past Hayden.

"Do you think Yumi only started to like me because of my new job? Doesn't that seem kind of like a gold digger?"

"Nah, I don't think Yumi 'started' to like you because of the new job, and I don't think she's a gold digger either, if she makes more than you," Hayden said.

"How much does Yumi make?!" asked Ulrich.

"I'm not certain on an actual figure, but I don't think someone like her could afford a car, a house, or clothes like hers if she didn't at least make more than six figures on a regular basis," said Hayden nonchalantly.

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Ulrich, getting kind of defensive.

"I'm saying her car must have cost at least as much as this one does," said Hayden, tapping the steering wheel of his car. "And if you haven't heard, Yumi recently bought one of the largest houses in Paris. Not a mansion, or an estate, but this house isn't small either. We're talking six bedroom, five bath, and as many other rooms as you can imagine." Ulrich now felt a little weird, hearing this from Hayden, but he went on oblivious to Ulrich. "And she has her own clothing line, and although she could have all her clothes for free, she likes to at least pay half price for all of her clothes, to give back to the designers and manufacturers… And her clothes don't come cheap!"

"Okay, so she's filthy rich, but why does she like me?" asked Ulrich

"Wow, did you just wake up, so to speak?" said Hayden with a grin. Ulrich scowled, but he grinned sheepishly and gave a half nod. "Did I actually hear you admit that you think Yumi likes you back?" Hayden chuckled, and Ulrich scowled again at the blonde.

"I'm just saying it's possible that Yumi could like me," started Ulrich.

"And…?" pushed Hayden.

"And I think it's possible that I might like her…" he finished. Hayden rose an eyebrow, and Ulrich rolled his eyes. "Okay, I like Yumi, but I don't know if she likes me. How can I find out?"

"Man, Ulrich, you are some piece of work. I think that if I were to answer that question, I would need more time to think about it," said Hayden.

"Don't leave me hanging here! You must know how I feel! I mean, didn't you feel this way when you and Luna started going out?" asked Ulrich.

"You know, I actually say I can't..." said Hayden. Ulrich frowned. "Luna and I met during auditions for the show, and when she got the part, we invited all the cast to come over to our house for a party. At the party, Luna walked right up to me, said she liked my writing, and that she liked me, and I told her that I liked her hair, and that I liked her too," said Hayden. "I was just joking, but she thought I was being serious!"

"Seriously?!" asked Ulrich. "That's it? How could you base a relationship off that?"

"We didn't start going out right after that! I took her to dinner, and she was able to quote all my favorite lines of my books by heart. She is a true fan of my work..." said Hayden.

"Sounds more like she's a stalker than a fan," said Ulrich, a little concerned.

"Nah, it's not like that. She's an honest fan of my work, she makes me laugh, and I feel like I can be myself around her, instead of the me that's at work…or the me that the public sees. The real me!" said Hayden with a smile.

"And you're sure that she's not into you for the money?" asked Ulrich.

"I'm telling you, man, there might not be a ton of actresses and actors that work for us, but the ones that are good, make almost as much as you do with each movie or TV show they sign," said Hayden.

"That didn't answer my question, though. How much do you make?" asked Ulrich.

"I make more than Luna, yes, but that's only because I'm technically higher up than her. Not only am I head of the writing department, I am also co-CEO with Seth, and when my father feels ready to retire, the company will be ours," said Hayden. Ulrich's eyes widened, but Hayden answered him. "It's already expected for us! That's why not only have we studied film and writing in college, but business as well. We want to make sure we can lead the company as well as dad has, so that's why we've been a part of this company ever since we could talk, pretty much. Our father founded the company to offer the future for us, like he didn't have growing up."

"I don't blame him. I mean, look what happened! You and your brother and your father must be worth billions!" said Ulrich.

"It's not about the money, Ulrich!" scolded Hayden. "My dad founded the business on the basis of family! Although, the money never hurt…" said Hayden with a sly smile. Hayden and Ulrich shared a laugh as they pulled into the parking garage at CEG.

Hayden pulled into a parking spot and the two of them got out of the car. Hayden locked his car, and the two of them made their way towards the bridge that connected the two buildings. Ulrich was about to pull open the door when it flew open, and William Dunbar stood there.

"STERN!" shouted William loudly, his voice echoed inside the garage. "Do you know what time it is?!" said William through clenched teeth.

"Yeah, it's about 10:00…why?" asked Ulrich, looking at his watch.

"You were supposed to be here at 7:30, and pushing a mail cart around! Instead, I have some bozo who shows up saying he's here to take your spot?! It doesn't work like that! You work for me!" shouted William.

Ulrich felt rage building up in his chest. William obviously hadn't gotten the message that he had been promoted. Or he did get it, and he just didn't believe it. Ulrich was about to deck William, but Hayden shouted and got William's attention. He had removed his tie, and ruffled his hair a bit. If Ulrich didn't know better, he thought he was looking at Seth instead. Hayden smiled, and said to William.

"How's the nose buddy?" said Hayden with a laugh. William stopped shouting, and instead stewed with a look of immense anger on his face. His face started to turn red, and Ulrich could hear his teeth squeak as he ground them in anger.

"You…don't…want…to…do…that!" grunted William.

"Do what? I just want to know how the nose feels, buddy… Just wanted to know if I needed to do it again. You know, straighten it out so it leans the other way. Because I gotta say, the person who 'fixed' your nose did a terrible job!" Hayden laughed again.

"SETH…!" growled William. Hayden laughed some more. William reeled back, and aimed a punch for Hayden's face. Hayden stopped laughing, and dodged William's punch. He then shot back with a quick jab to the nose. William gasped, and held his nose.

"Y-you'll pay for that!" said William.

"Send me a bill!" said Hayden sarcastically.

William froze and stared at Hayden intently. "This isn't over, Seth…" he growled in a low tone.

"I'm not Seth," said Hayden

"Yeah you are. You look just like him!" shouted William. Hayden put his tie back on. William disregarded it until he noticed what color it was. William gasped and sputtered, and his nose shot a bit of blood as he did. Hayden took a step back to avoid the blood, and let William figure it out.

"You are Seth! You're just pretending to be Hayden!" said William finally.

"Prove…it…" said Hayden in a threatening tone. Hayden put a hand on Ulrich's shoulder and guided him inside.

William shouted after them. "This isn't the end! I WILL TELL YOUR FATHER!" he roared at their receding backs.

Hayden turned and shouted back. "YEAH! YOU DO THAT! I THINK THREATENING THE BOSS' KID WILL GO OVER WELL!" he roared.

William was instantly and blissfully silent. Hayden stifled a laugh, and he pushed Ulrich further down the tunnel to the main building. Hayden pushed Ulrich kind of hard into the building and punched the button for the elevator rather hard. Hayden let go of Ulrich, and then started pacing around. Ulrich rose an eyebrow.

"Dude? What's up?" asked Ulrich.

"I swear, if he didn't have to work here, I would have had him fired months ago!" stewed Hayden.

"Okay, so you don't like William, I don't either. He's a jerk! That doesn't mean you had to pop him in the nose!" said Ulrich.

"Yes I did. He's been needing it for a while," said Hayden offhandedly.

"Okay, maybe he did, but we need to make sure this doesn't come back to bite us in the rear end…" said Ulrich.

"I don't think it will. William doesn't have the guts to go through with his threat. He's terrified of my father," said Hayden with a chuckle.

The elevator doors slid open, and Ulrich was treated to another look of the development department. It looked exactly as he remembered. All sorts of cartoon and television characters sat in various forms around the office space. Ulrich felt like it was Christmas already. Hayden walked out of the elevator first and led Ulrich to his new office. The office was pretty plain, but it was large.

"At least I have an office..." thought Ulrich.

"Decorate as you see fit, but I think after a while, your office might end up looking a lot like the rest of the offices as you make all sorts of new characters," said Hayden, leaning up against the door frame of the office. "We have a meeting a half an hour after lunch, so I suggest you get comfortable, go to lunch, and then come up to the top floor for the meeting."

"Meeting?" asked Ulrich

"Yeah, for your new show idea!" said Hayden.

"My…idea?" asked Ulrich, a little puzzled.

"The one you had yesterday?" said Hayden, trying to jog Ulrich's memory. "The one about the kids and the factory!" said Hayden.

"You guys are really serious about that idea?!" asked Ulrich.

"Why not? It's a good idea, and we've- I mean, my dad, Seth, and I- have decided that you will be the one to lead up the development process on this! It will be your first show, and it's almost 100% yours!" said Hayden cheerfully, flashing a smile.

"What?!" asked Ulrich, taken aback.

"Yeah, since you're the one that came up with the idea, you will have 100% creative control on the show!" said Hayden. "Don't worry, you'll have Odd to help you, and everyone else at CEG as well. You won't be alone on this, you'll just be in charge!" said Hayden, noticing the panicked look on Ulrich's face. Ulrich felt a little better about this now. Ulrich smiled back at Hayden, but he still couldn't help the overcoming feeling of nervousness in the pit of his stomach.

Ulrich did a bit of rearranging, and by lunchtime, he had his office the way he wanted it. Hayden had taken off to pick up Luna for lunch, and he came back just as Ulrich was putting the finishing touches on his new office. Odd poked his head into the office and looked around.

"Not bad, good buddy! Not how I would have done it, but not bad!" said Odd, looking at the arrangement of the furniture. Ulrich scowled, and gave a playful punch to the short blonde.

"Where have you been all day? I was expecting to see you before I even showed up!" said Ulrich.

"I've been doing work, unlike some of us…" said Odd, giving a look to Ulrich. Ulrich scowled again, and Odd laughed at Ulrich. "I'm just kidding, man. It's your first day! I wouldn't expect you to come in here and break your back your first day!"

"I feel like I have already," said Ulrich, holding his back. The new furniture in his office hadn't been particularly light.

They both laughed, and then left Ulrich's office. Hayden suggested the four of them go to lunch, and Odd agreed wholeheartedly. Ulrich laughed at the blonde, who's was stomach growling, and they walked towards the elevator. Ulrich heard a voice behind them, and he turned to see a worker he hadn't noticed before. He was a boy, about Luna and Yumi's age, he had hair like Hayden, kind of long, and messy, but brunette, instead of dirty blonde, and it curled at the ends. He wore a white t-shirt with a character Ulrich could only assume he helped develop, and over it he wore a green polyester hooded jacket over it. The sleeves had three white rings near the shoulders. He also wore black cargo pants, and some stylish blue and white sneakers that went with his outfit. The boy came up and introduced himself as Blaze McDonnall, and he had a definite American accent. Not typical from all the French and other European accents he heard.

"Hey, Blaze McDonnall. I work here in development as well!" said the brunette.

"Nice to meet you, Blaze. I'm Ulrich."

"Oh, I know, I heard," said Blaze. He seemed a little too eager. "I heard from Odd."

"I see..." said Ulrich, raising an eyebrow to the blonde. Odd seemed to be the source of everything.

"I also heard what you did to Finson!" said Blaze. Ulrich frowned. He had almost forgotten about the angry developer he had fired yesterday, but quit instead and stormed out of the company.

"Oh, don't worry. None of us here really like him. I think he was stealing ideas to give to his father's company!" said Blaze.

"Yeah, let's hope you don't have to do that again!" said Odd, trying to stop Blaze from bringing it up.

"Yeah…hey! You guys going to lunch?" asked Blaze.

"Um…yeah… You want to join us?" asked Ulrich. Odd tried motioning Ulrich to stop, but as soon as Ulrich finished, Odd sighed in defeat. Blaze lit up, and Ulrich then realized why Odd was trying to stop him.

"Sure! That'd be great! Awesome! Really great!" said Blaze quickly. Ulrich then realized Blaze was the kind of guy that would get wound up and energetic over the smallest thing. Ulrich laughed nervously, but he figured it was too late to uninvite him. Hayden rolled his eyes and pushed the button to call the elevator.

The elevator doors slid open and Blaze whooped and ran into the elevator. Hayden, Luna, Odd, and Ulrich all followed after the energetic brunette nervously. The doors slid shut, and Hayden pushed the button for the cafeteria level. The elevator ride was mostly quiet on the way down. Luna leaned up against the wall of the elevator, and lightly whistled a tune to pass the time. Odd went over some papers he had brought with him, and Hayden looked at his watch and then rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet. Blaze looked around at the occupants of the elevator, and then he noticed Luna. He looked her up and down.

Luna had changed out of her outfit from earlier, and now she wore slim, black jeans, and a plain white t-shirt. She wore a loose-fitting blue sweater jacket and a purple and black scarf was wrapped loosely around her neck. She wore shoes much like Yumi had at his party, and she had pulled her hair back with a purple hairband that matched her scarf. Blaze gave one more look at Luna, and then shoved Hayden out-of-the-way. He cornered Luna and started talking to her.

"Hey, baby, I didn't see you there… Where do you work?" asked Blaze, trying to be smooth. Hayden gasped and looked like he could have decked Blaze right there.

Luna clenched her jaw and said through clenched teeth, "Studio Productions..."

"Hey, you an actress?" asked Blaze, keeping up the smooth operator routine.

"Yes, I am..." said Luna through her teeth again.

"Are you seeing anyone now? Because, baby, you're the only one I see now..." said Blaze. Ulrich put his head in his hand. He was now regretting letting Blaze come to lunch with them, especially after a cheesy pickup line like that. Hayden tapped on Blaze's shoulder and he turned around.

"Hit it, bub. I'm talking here!" said Blaze, waving Hayden off.

"Yes, you're talking to my girlfriend..." said Hayden with a tone of acid.

"Oh, I am so sorry. I had no idea. I apologize!" said Blaze quickly backing off. Luna sighed, and wrapped an arm around Hayden's.

Odd snickered, and Ulrich sighed again. The elevator finally stopped at the cafeteria level, and the five got out. Hayden helped Luna get her food, and Odd ran off in several different directions to find food to satisfy his ever-growing hunger. Ulrich went back to the grill he had ordered from yesterday and got the same order he had yesterday. He still didn't know all that was served in the massive cafeteria, so he decided to stick with what he knew. The five met up again, and paid for their food. Hayden had gotten quesadillas from a Mexican food area. Luna had gotten chicken tenders and fries, and Blaze had gotten the soup of the day. The five of them walked out into the large dining area and looked for a place to sit. Ulrich heard a couple of people calling him. He looked around and saw Aelita and Jeremy sitting together at a booth. Ulrich pointed the couple out to Hayden, Luna, Odd, and Blaze. Ulrich walked over and sat next to Jeremy. Hayden and Luna sat next to Aelita, and Blaze slid in on the end next to Ulrich. Odd sat next to Hayden, and the seven of them began to eat. Luna introduced herself to Aelita.

"I know you. My mom watches your show all the time! It seems like the only thing she can talk about sometimes!" said Aelita. "It's good to finally meet you!"

"Same here," said Luna. Everyone ate quietly until Blaze saw Aelita. Aelita had changed as well after she left the party. She was no longer in her street clothes. Instead, she was in a pink suit and skirt. The buttons were molded to look like tiny hearts, and her high heels were also pink. Blaze stared at her, until it got a little creepy. Aelita looked up from her meal and looked at Blaze with an uncomfortable look.

"Can I…help you?" asked Aelita.

"You already have…" sighed Blaze, a little creepily.

"Excuse me?" asked Aelita.

"Are you seeing anyone now? Because, girl, you're the only one I see now…" said Blaze. Ulrich sighed again. Apparently Blaze wasn't only a terrible flirt, he also only had one line.

"Um…yes, I am. I'm seeing Jeremy now," said Aelita, placing a hand on Jeremy's. Jeremy smiled at Aelita, and Aelita smiled back.

"Oh, I see," said Blaze, a little crestfallen. Odd laughed at the depressed brunette, and they all finished their lunches in relative silence. Occasionally, someone would speak, but it wasn't for very long. Blaze finished first, and left the group.

"I kind of feel sorry for Blaze," said Aelita, as he left.

"Why? He's nothing but a flirt!" said Odd through a mouthful of food.

"I just think he needs to find a woman, and he wouldn't be like that anymore!" said Aelita.

"Good luck! He's hit on every girl in the development department, and they're all either already seeing someone, married, or turned him down! Blaze kind of has a reputation that proceeds him," said Odd. Everyone laughed, and Hayden looked at his watch.

"Ooh! We gotta go, Ulrich!" Hayden wolfed down what was left of his food, and Ulrich did as well. Odd tried eating all the food he had, but he couldn't... he was actually full! Hayden stood up with Luna and Luna wrapped an arm around Hayden's.

"Hey, Hayden!" shouted Odd at Hayden before he left. Hayden turned and looked at the blonde.

"What? Odd...?" asked Hayden.

"When are we going running again?"

"Running?" asked Hayden, trying to signal to the blonde to shut up. Luna raised an eyebrow, and looked up at Hayden. Hayden tried calming her, but it wasn't working.

"Yeah! You know! Running!" said Odd, Hayden continued to try to wave the blonde off. Luna scowled at Hayden.

"Um…I have no idea what you're talking about, Odd!" said Hayden almost robotically.

"Yeah, you do! HARDCORE PARKOUR! You know!" he shouted. Hayden's face fell, and Luna looked angry.

"You promised me that you wouldn't keep doing that! And now you've roped Odd into it?" scolded Luna, "What will happen the next time you fall? Will I be patching you up, or scooping your brains off the sidewalk?!" she scolded.

"You're right, my love…" mumbled Hayden.

"Darn right I am!" shouted Luna. Odd had stopped talking to Hayden, and tried keeping his gaze away from Luna, "No more! I love you too much to let you do that to yourself!"

"I love you too...I promise..." said Hayden. Luna smiled at Hayden.

"I'm going to hold you to that!" said Luna, and she pecked Hayden on the cheek before she walked off.

Hayden bid farewell to the group and reminded Ulrich about the meeting. He then ran after Luna, and walked her back to the car. Aelita said she needed to get back to work, and Jeremy volunteered to walk her back to her office. Aelita smiled and Jeremy stuck out his arm. Aelita took his arm and linked hers with his. Odd laughed, and hummed a quiet wedding march to himself as he saw the couple walk away with arms linked. Ulrich laughed along with him.

"It's probably going to be any day now we receive invitations to their wedding!" laughed Odd. Ulrich agreed.

"Hey, Odd, what's parkour?" asked Ulrich.

"It's probably better known as free running. It's the act of moving from one place to another with maximum efficiency. It's awesome! Seth and Hayden got me into it when I caught them sneaking off to practice one day during lunch. Both their father and Luna—especially for Hayden—don't like them doing it, but they do it anyway! I had almost forgotten Luna doesn't like Hayden going out and doing that…" said Odd, rubbing his head in nervousness. "I hope I didn't get him in trouble…"

"Yeah, but why do they do it?" asked Ulrich.

"Let's them get out and see the city without having to mess with the public or paparazzi!" said Odd.

"Sounds...interesting…" said Ulrich. He still wasn't sure what it was from the description Odd gave. He had never heard of either free running, or parkour. It sounded dangerous!

"Anyway, I gotta get to this meeting..." said Ulrich, standing up with his tray.

"Are you going to finish your fries?" asked Odd.

"I thought you were full!"

"There's always room for fries," said Odd with a grin.

Ulrich sighed and handed over what was left of his fries. He walked back through the cafeteria and saw Herb and Nicholas standing in line for food. Herb elbowed Nicholas, and the two of them walked over to talk to Ulrich. Ulrich had to rush though, as he was almost late for this meeting. He blew right past Nicholas and Herb. They stood there, looking at Ulrich's quickly retreating back, mouths agape. Ulrich felt bad, and he felt like he owed them an explanation, but he just didn't have the time. Ulrich ran towards the elevators, and punched the buttons that called the elevator. The elevator doors slid open, and Ulrich punched the button for the top floor. The elevator shot up and Ulrich paced around the small elevator, trying to rid himself of nerves before he got to the top offices.

He didn't know why he felt like this, he wasn't this nervous when he had gone up there yesterday to deliver mail. Ulrich tried to go back to that state of mind from a day ago, but he couldn't. No matter how hard he tried to calm his nerves, there would always be something else that caused his heart to race. The doors of the elevator slid open, and Ulrich rushed to pull open one of the large, frosted doors of the main offices. Ulrich tugged and pulled, but the door wouldn't budge. The receptionist behind him cleared her throat and Ulrich smiled nervously to her. Ulrich tried stammering something to her, but nothing tangible came out. The receptionist just rolled her eyes, and buzzed Ulrich in.

Ulrich rushed down the hall to the meeting room. He saw Mrs. Campbell, typing away on her keyboard. She looked up as Ulrich rushed by.

"Hi, Mrs. Campbell!" said Ulrich, and he tugged on the door to the meeting room, but this one wouldn't budge either. Mrs. Campbell gave a giggle at Ulrich as he tried to pull the door to the meeting room open.

"Sweetie, I'd have to buzz you into the meeting room, if that's where they were meeting!" said Mrs. Campbell, standing up and taking Ulrich's hand off the door handle.

"What—?" gasped Ulrich. Mrs. Campbell took his hands and Ulrich gasped and tried to catch his breath.

"Sweetie, they're all waiting for you in Winston's office...and you're actually half an hour early!" said Mrs. Campbell, soothingly. She guided Ulrich over to the door to Mr. Campbell's office, and Ulrich was about to enter, but Mrs. Campbell stopped him.

"Relax, dear. You look like you're going to pass out on the carpet! Not that I haven't thought about taking a nap on the carpet here before…" said Mrs. Campbell. Ulrich shook his head in confusion.

"I'm sorry, what?"

"I said I've always wanted to take a nap on this carpet. That's why I had Winston pick it out for the office!" said Mrs. Campbell. Ulrich didn't know where she was going with this. His breathing slowed and his thoughts cleared.

"There, see? It worked... All I had to do was distract you, and now you look ready to take on the world!" Mrs. Campbell straitened his tie and opened the door to the luscious office.

Ulrich was right. Mrs. Campbell had distracted him with her random comments, causing him to forget why he was nervous. He walked into the office and looked around. Mr. Campbell, Aelita, and a couple other people Ulrich didn't recognize were there already. Mr. Campbell sat at a desk, raised above the rest of the floor by a set of interesting stairs. The stairs had no visual set of supporting struts between them, so there were gaps between them that Ulrich could see right through to the other side. The desk was large, and took up most of the large platform that made up the top most stair. There was a small area near the edge of the desk that people could sit at, and that's where everyone but Mr. Campbell sat. Mr. Campbell sat in a high-backed, leather chair behind the desk. He was looking over some paperwork, and he looked up as Ulrich walked in.

"Ah! Ulrich, come in!" said Mr. Campbell, rising to his feet to gesture to an empty seat next to Aelita. Ulrich took it, and Aelita gave a small wave to him. Ulrich smiled back at the pinkette, and Mr. Campbell took a seat back behind his desk again.

"We just need to wait for my sons, and we'll be ready to start!" said Mr. Campbell. Ulrich nodded and sat, looking around the office. The office was well decorated. Several sleek bookshelves sat along one wall. They held all sorts of books and awards that not only Mr. Campbell had written or won, but his sons as well. Ulrich waited for the meeting to start, and was interrupted by a note Aelita passed him.

'Have you seen Jeremy lately?'

Ulrich shook his head, and the pinkette's face fell. He scribbled back.

'I saw him at lunch, but I didn't see him after you guys left… Is something wrong?"

Aelita frowned, and wrote back.

'No, I just forgot something I needed to tell him...'

Ulrich was about to write back, but Aelita shook her head, and gave him a look that meant 'never mind'. Ulrich shrugged and went back to waiting. Hayden and Seth walked in a second later, followed by Odd. Mr. Campbell nodded to his sons, and his sons whispered polite greetings. Mr. Campbell stood up from his paperwork, and walked over and sat on the edge of his desk so he could see everyone. Ulrich was surprised that someone so professional would do something like this.

"Now that we are all here, let's get started!" said Mr. Campbell, clapping his hands together. "Mr. Stern…would you care to tell us why we're all here? Give us a quick synopsis of your show idea!"

Ulrich stood up and started telling the others what his ideas were. Ulrich felt strange telling everyone about it. The idea seemed to strike a certain chord in Ulrich, like he had heard the idea before. He couldn't remember where, though. Ulrich watched heads nod as he told everyone his idea. They obviously liked it. Ulrich finished, and Mr. Campbell thanked him. Ulrich took a seat and Mr. Campbell carried on with the meeting.

"Okay...since this was Mr. Stern's idea, I've decided to make him in charge of the process that will follow in getting this show from the drawing board, to on the air by the next season! That means you have about five months to get this thing out there!" said Mr. Campbell. Ulrich gulped. That seemed like such a short deadline.

"I have every confidence that you will pull through in the end, and make us proud!" said Mr. Campbell. Ulrich couldn't help but feel like he was acting like an over-expectant father, wanting more out of a son. Ulrich was reminded of his father, and recently, his mother.

"And since Mr. Stern is in charge of this idea, I will let him choose his own production crew. That's why I invited you here, to let Ulrich get started on picking those who he thinks would be perfect in helping with this new idea. I just have one question, Mr. Stern..." said Mr. Campbell.

"What is it, um…sir?" asked Ulrich.

"Is this going to be an animated show? Or live action?"

"Animation, for sure!" blurted out Ulrich. He didn't know what caused him to. It felt like an outside force was working on him to say it.

"Good man, good man! I agree! Not only would it be hard to get kids this age to audition, it would also be hard to keep them that age, this show isn't going to be shot in one day, and so actors age, costumes need to be redone as people grow, and it costs more. Good choice!" said Mr. Campbell. "Okay, I'm going to step out here for a second, and let you guys discuss this. Good meeting you all!"

Mr. Campbell took a stack of papers and gestured for Hayden and Seth to follow him. The twins stood up and followed their father out of his office. Ulrich turned to the group. He felt the nerves coming back. He had never really been in charge of anything, except the soccer team. He decided to make this like a huddle, and he hoped he would get through this okay without screwing up. He didn't know who to start with, so he started with the familiar faces. He walked to the front of the table and looked to Aelita.

"Aelita! What have you got for me?" asked Ulrich. Aelita grabbed her briefcase from near her feet, and grabbed a large stack of papers out of it. She slid the stack over to him and Ulrich went through it.

"These are the names of all the animators I have in my department. I listed them by years of experience, and also productions they have worked on. I think you should start with Paul Jardine as lead animator, and go from there." Ulrich looked over the papers one more time, and then looked up. An idea struck him. If the deadline for this show was so close, he needed to work fast. Jeremy had said something about how animators liked to take their time animating, and Ulrich couldn't have that...

"I'm more interested in a name _not_ listed on this sheet..." said Ulrich, looking over it one more time. Aelita raised an eyebrow and posed a question.

"Sir? Just who are you talking about? I realize there's a deadline, but I really think that Paul could help whip the animation team you pick!" said Aelita. "Who could do it better?" asked Aelita.

"You know who I'm talking about..." said Ulrich with a sly smile. Aelita gasped, and she looked down.

"H-he's not an animator..." said Aelita, looking at her shoes.

"Then, I think you and I have some work to do..." said Ulrich.

* * *

Okay, and scene! This concludes this chapter! I know it's long, but I wanted to give it a proper send off before I leave in three days. I WILL be back, and I WILL update this story. I want to thank Redwolf11 for being my beta reader, and also to Lunasky198 for being my recent beta reader, and also for the support and the laughs. Thank you my loyal readers! During this extended break, please read and enjoy all you want, I'm going to keep my stories up for those who wish to re-read this while I'm gone. But while I'm gone, please don't PM me, or review, looking for a reply, as I will be unreachable during the time I am gone. But stay tuned, stay cool, and keep in touch. And for all of you who have read my stories, Goodbye, farewell, and amen...


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